A Hollowed Existence
by BloodFreedom13
Summary: The night Kurosaki Ichigo encountered his first hollow was the night everything went bad for him. In the space of a few minutes he finds himself completely and utterly changed, left with only an eternal feeling of hunger.Arrancar!Ichigo.Dark Themes.Adopted by IchiFell.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own any of the characters or ideas used in this story, Bleach isn't mine.

**This chapter assumes basic knowledge about the anime Bleach.**

A Hollowed Existence

Being able to speak with ghosts was something that Kurosaki Ichigo had always kept to himself. His orange hair gave his fellow classmates enough of a reason to target him and he honestly didn't want to deal with them if they ever found out he could talk to invisible beings that only he could see.

As far as he knew, it was a pleasure only he could partake in and he wanted to keep it that way, no matter how selfish that might've sounded.

Talking with ghosts relaxed him. It was almost liberating, really. He didn't have to worry about offending them – he'd found most ghosts to be extremely easy going – and they didn't obsess over his appearance like others his age did. At times, he would actively seek out a ghost to talk to instead spending time with his friends.

There was only so much he could take of Keigo, after all...

Of course, he wasn't aware of just how complicated his life would become because he could see spirits. He wasn't even aware of what reiatsu was or the fact that he himself housed an amount abnormally large for a human being.

He had no idea that beings called shinigami and hollows existed in the world. He was unaware of the fact that his reiatsu levels would draw their attention to him too.

He lived his life just like an ordinary teenager would... an ordinary teenager that had to fight because of his hair and could talk with spirits, anyway.

Kurosaki Ichigo would soon come to find though, that his days as an 'ordinary' teenager were doomed to come to an abrupt end.

* * *

"Ichi-nii?"

A young orange haired man grumbled and turned on to his stomach, the sheets of his bed tangled haphazardly with his legs.

"Ichi-nii!?"

He started awake, rubbing his eyes blearily and blinking several times to get the room in focus.

"ICHIGO!!!"

His door slammed open, startling the boy enough to cause him to topple off his bed and onto the cold, unforgiving floor.

Of course, his face broke his fall.

Ichigo growled and picked himself up off the floor.

"The hell's your problem old man!"

Kurosaki Isshin grinned widely and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You completely ignored your dear, sweet sister! And to think she was kind enough to make breakfast for someone as undeserving as you!"

The orange haired teenager glanced at the doorway and found, just as his father had said, the form of his younger sister staring at him.

"Are you alright Ichi-nii?" Kurosaki Yuzu asked, worried that her father's antics may have caused her elder brother to hurt himself.

"Don't show the unworthy care and concern Yuzu! This hooligan doesn't deserve your sympathy!"

Ichigo waved off his sister's concerns, completely ignoring his father. The man was in one of his moods, _again_, and when he was in one of his moods, it was best just to ignore him.

"I'm fine. I'll be down in a few minutes, alright?"

Yuzu nodded and smiled brightly at him before proceeding downstairs, likely to join her twin in eating breakfast.

Ichigo then turned to his father, who was in the middle of trying to imitate some sort of karate stance as he faced down his son.

"The hell are you still doing in here old man?!"

"Ichigo!" he gasped, his attitude doing a complete one-eighty – the man was bipolar, he _had _to be – as he fell to his knees and started bawling into his hands.

"How could you speak to your father in such a way! Where did I go wrong!" He looked up at Ichigo. "It was the dolls wasn't it! I thought that was just a phase!"

The old man's sobbing renewed, just as Ichigo's patience snapped.

He picked up Isshin by his collar and threw him out the doorway, over the balcony, and down into the living room on the first floor, where the man proceeded to prostrate himself in front of his late wife's picture and babble incoherently about dolls and manly action figures.

Ichigo sighed and quickly went through his morning routine before his father decided to come annoy him again.

Ten minutes later, he walked into the kitchen to find Isshin sitting calmly at the table, sipping coffee, and his two sisters talking animatedly about some sort of play their school was putting on.

"Morning Ichigo," Karin said as she offered him a small smile.

Isshin grunted in an angry manner, obviously disapproving of _something_, and closed his eyes.

"He's trying to act more manly to 'make up for the doll phase'," Karin supplied.

Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose, but sat down at the table with a plate full of pancakes nonetheless.

For a few precious minutes, a comfortable silence settled over the Kurosaki family, Ichigo was even beginning to think he'd be able to get out of the house after only having to deal with his father's incessant grunting.

That was a dream that would never come true.

"Ichigo," Isshin said gruffily, his voice several tones deeper than it usually was. "I'm going to hire prostitute for you so you can recover your manliness. You need to discover the feminine body before it's too late and you suffer irreparable damage to your sanity."

Silence overtook the table, but this time it wasn't comfortable.

Yuzu was gaping shamelessly and Karin immediately started pounding Isshin's head in.

"I think my sanity's been damaged enough by you already, old man," Ichigo said dryly. "There's not much more you can do to hurt it."

He glanced over at the clock on the stove.

"I need to get going," he said to whoever the hell was listening as he put his dishes in the sink to later be washed. "Thanks for breakfast Yuzu, see you after school."

The girl nodded absentmindedly, still focused on the sight of her sister beating their father to a bloody pulp.

The trip to school was quick and uneventful. He greeted the ghost of an elderly lady as she watered her once living plants and another of a child skateboarding. Chad meant him about half way there and began walking alongside him without a word.

Once you earned Chad's loyalty you would never lose it unless you deliberately did something to make the gentle giant mad, Ichigo reflected as he entered the school yard, idly greeting Tatsuki and Orihime as he did so. The boy was a good foot taller than Ichigo and the Kurosaki boy wasn't short by any means. Add that to the muscles that practically bulged across Chad's body...

The orange haired teen snorted. Chad wasn't someone you'd want to get in a fight with, though whether or not the Mexican teen would fight back was another question entirely. Ichigo had learned a while ago that Chad's abuelo, his grandfather, had always defended the weak and never so much as lifted a finger in his own defense. It seemed the grandson had taken after the grandfather in that respect.

Regardless of whether or not Chad would use his body to fight though, Ichigo valued him greatly as a friend. He was one of a small group of people that the young Kurosaki could be around without getting a headache.

They had reached the classroom now.

Ichigo sighed in annoyance and mentally prepared himself for what was likely to be another boring day of school.

* * *

"Oi! Ichigo!"

The boy in question turned on his way to the schoolyard gates to find his life long friend Arisawa Tatsuki approaching him, Inoue Orihime trailing behind her.

"Hey Tatsuki, Inoue."

"Are we still on to spar later today?" Tatsuki immediately questioned.

Ichigo felt the edge of lips quirk up. If there was one thing he'd learned about Tatsuki over the years, it was that fighting was always on her mind. She was willing to do anything to keep her skills sharp, whether it be a spar or just some rough-housing on the living room floor, she'd be up for it.

"Sure," Ichigo nodded as he saw Chad approach from the corner of his eye.

Evidently Tatsuki saw him too.

"You too big guy! Drop by the dojo with Ichigo later, I need a good challenge. Strawberry over here doesn't put up much of a fight anymore," She said as she jerked her thumb at Ichigo.

The orange haired teenager snorted. "You barely beat me last time Tatsuki, and you wouldn't have either, if you hadn't gone for that low blow..."

"Not my fault you didn't wear anything to protect them," she grinned.

"Yeah, whatever," Ichigo said, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "I gotta get home, Yuzu wanted me to help her move the furniture around or something."

Chad and Orihime both waved while Tatsuki yelled at him not to forget about their spar. He held up a hand to acknowledge her as he walked away, his mind already wandering.

He'd gotten a bad feeling about today sometime during lunch break and it'd yet to go away. Normally he wouldn't even think twice about something so trivial... but this was different.

It was almost like it was hanging in the air, a slight pressure on his shoulders that he knew wasn't there before. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand tall and his forearms developed goose flesh whenever he focused on it for longer periods of time.

At times, he had an even odder feeling that he could _sense _what was causing his irritation.

It would come to him at completely random times, a presence in his mind that seemed to be pointing in the same direction every time he felt it.

What it was pointing to was something he truly didn't want to find out.

* * *

Ichigo sighed and flexed his sore muscles as he entered the Kurosaki home for the night. It was quite late, due mostly to the fact that Tatsuki kept challenging him to another spar whenever he'd beat her.

He felt a grin stretch across his face.

In the end, he won, five out of nine.

Karin absentmindedly greeted him from where she was watching the television on the couch while both Yuzu and and his father were no where to be found.

Yuzu, he figured, was likely asleep already. She got up at unimaginable hours in the morning to make breakfast and do whatever else she managed to do before everyone else was up.

Isshin... he didn't even want to think about. He knew his father would find him, somehow, when the man was ready to annoy him again.

He dropped onto his bed the moment he was safely inside his room and started to rub at his eyes with the heels of his hands.

That feeling had stuck with him relentlessly. He'd caught himself looking over his shoulder on his walk home, expecting something to jump out at him, more times than he'd willingly admit.

Ichigo had the distinct feeling that someone, or something, had been watching him all day. His earlier feelings hadn't changed any, he still didn't want to meet whatever that thing was.

Before he could think any further on his weird feeling, a figure entered his room.

Well, maybe entered wasn't the best way to describe it, something like 'phased into' would be more accurate due to the fact that she walked through the wall.

Ichigo blinked. He'd seen ghosts do it often, but this girl wasn't a ghost, at least not as far as he could tell.

He couldn't see through her at all and she looked pretty tangible, more than the regular ghosts he saw, anyway. She wore an odd looking black outfit that fit loosely around her entirely body, it looked a lot like the shirts Tatsuki wore to spar in, due to the fact that they didn't restrict her movements. The black clothed girl also had what he believed to be a katana at her side... or some type of sword, he wasn't all that great at keeping track of the various kinds.

He watched her silently look around his room, then down at a device in her hand, and back around his room again before turning back the way she came.

It was then that he snapped out of his trance.

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing!"

No response. She was ignoring him completely.

"The hell? You can't just walk into someone's room like that!"

Again, no response.

Ichigo grit his teeth and reached out for the girl as she neared the wall. He grabbed the back of her robe-like shirt and, surprisingly, picked her up without any trouble whatsoever, holding her in front of him at eye level. She was extremely light.

"I said," Ichigo reiterated, thoughts on how light the girl was far from his mind now, "what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

She blinked at him, though he was relieved to see that she had actually acknowledged his presence now.

"...You can see me?"

His eye twitched and he shook her a little. "You tell me. Now what the hell are you doing in here!"

"Looking for a hollow."

He furrowed his brow.

"A what?"

"A hollow," the girl said impatiently, "you know, a soul whose chain of fate has eroded?"

"A chain...?"

The girl snorted and kicked him in the shin, well, the knee cap due to the fact that it was the only thing one of her height could reach.

He yelped and dropped her.

"The hell! What's your problem, crazy ass midget!"

Her eyes narrowed. "Look, I don't have time-"

A beeping sound was suddenly heard in the room.

The girl's hand darted back into her pocket and retrieved what looked to be a cell phone.

"Shit," she muttered under her breath.

As if it was answering her, an inhuman roar echoed loudly from the street.

Ichigo was about to run to his window, but he stopped to keep his balance as the floor shook violently under his feet. He vaguely heard the sounds of wood splintering and drywall snapping, belatedly realizing that part of his house had probably just been taken out by whatever the hell was outside in the street.

He froze.

Was this the thing that was giving him that bad feeling all day? Was whatever it was here to eat them?

The pressure that had weighed heavily on his shoulders all day suddenly intensified. It brought him to his knees.

Whatever was exerting this force on him was projecting its feelings with it. He felt bloodlust, first and foremost, along with the desire to eat...

A terrified scream broke from his stupor.

"Karin!" he yelled as he remembered the fact that his sister had been downstairs.

He bolted out of his room and vaulted over the balcony, forgoing the stairs completely, only to see what could only be described as a monster holding one of his sisters in its hand.

"_Ichigo!"_ she howled painfully, tears of fright and pain running down her cheeks as the monster squeezed her again.

Ichigo's lips curled into a fierce snarl, ignoring the calls of that weird midget girl to stay where he was.

He charged at the monster head on, only to be knocked away effortlessly by a massive fist. He was tossed a good distance down the street, bouncing painfully and coming up after several wet snapping sounds.

He grimaced. He could easily feel that one, maybe two of his ribs were broken from the initial blow as well as two of the fingers on his left hand from when he'd rolled haphazardly down the street.

Karin screamed again.

Ichigo saw red.

He charged again, this time running straight past that weird girl from earlier as she held off the monster with her sword.

He dove away from the monster's fist as it attempted to come down on him with a force strong enough to shatter the ground under it and jumped at its other one, the one that held Karin.

His hands came into contact with the cold, leathery flesh of the hollow, if he'd heard that weird girl's warnings right, and latched on. The thing immediately started to try and shake him off, but one look at Karin's face solidified his resolve.

Ichigo clawed his way up the hand as the hollow became distracted by the weird girl from earlier, leaving him to focus his efforts less on simply staying on and more on getting Karin out.

"Ichi-nii!" she whimpered as he reached out to her.

"You'll be alright Karin," he said, more to convince himself than her at that moment.

He reached out and started to tug her out of the hollows hand, but at that moment, the monster managed to wound the girl and focused its attention on Ichigo again.

He barely had time to realize he was moving before the hollow smashed its hand into a building, sandwiching him between putrid flesh and the hard side of a home.

Blood was immediately splattered on the monster's flesh as Ichigo let out a hacking cough. His vision blurred and he started to slip, he could clearly see Karin though.

She was staring wide eyed at him, tears running freely down her face. Her struggling had stopped completely and in its place was mind numbing shock.

The young girl flinched as she watched her brother get pounded into the building again and his grip slipped further. A knot had formed in her throat, choking her and cutting off any sobs or words from leaving her mouth.

"Ichi," she choked out as another impact with the nearly destroyed building shook her brother off further.

The hollow roared behind her, its putrid breath suffocating her.

"_Ichi-nii!"_ Karin screamed as the monster raised its hand, this time intent on smashing the orange haired insect on its hand into the unforgiving ground.

* * *

Ichigo blearily watched his sister's mouth as it shouted his name. His mind was in a constant state of half-consciousness from the beating he'd taken and all the blood he'd lost.

Tunnel vision was starting to take over, focused solely on his task of freeing Karin.

A feeling of weightlessness passed over him as he felt the hollow's fist hover in mid air before abruptly plummeting toward the ground. He knew what was going to happen, he knew he'd hit the ground and likely end up dead in minutes from all the internal trauma the monster had put him through, but he found himself unable to do anything about it.

Whether that was due to his dulled state of mind or the fact that he doubted he'd be able to move anything except his arms, he didn't know.

And so, Kurosaki Ichigo was smashed into the ground under the hollow's fist with bone shattering force.

* * *

Kuchiki Rukia gasped as she clutched at her wounded shoulder, willing what feeble power it had remaining to help her lift her blade and defeat the hollow in front of her. Her arm lifted itself off the ground and quivered weakly before sinking back down.

"Damnit!"

She raised her good arm and began channeling her reiatsu to her fingertips in a last ditch attempt to destroy the monster that had wounded her.

Unfortunately, the thing noticed her efforts, having satisfied itself with the brutal death of the orange haired human.

With its attention now focused solely on her, Rukia redoubled her efforts. Never before had she attempted to use kidō with her weaker arm alone, and with no time for the full incantation...

Desperation blossomed in her when she realized that the hollow would reach her well before she was ready to unleash her attack.

She was saved from what would have certainly been a painful death though, when a pulse of reiatsu washed over her and the hollow.

Rukia turned abruptly toward the source, losing control of her one handed attempt at kidō in the process. The lightning charged reiatsu in her hand fizzled and died.

Her violet eyes narrowed in surprise when she saw the orange haired boy from earlier standing over his corpse. Such a sight normally wouldn't have unique in any way, shape or form... he _had _just passed on, after all and his soul would need cleansing to move on to Soul Society.

What held her attention though, was the rapidly deteriorating chain on the teenager's chest.

* * *

Ichigo looked around slowly, still dazed from the way he'd died just seconds earlier. He took in the sight off a large figure in front of him and a smaller, darker clothed figure to its side. There were noises too, screaming, if he heard correctly.

But who would be screaming...

He abandoned that train of thought after considering it for another second or two, easily becoming distracted as soon as he looked down at himself.

"_A chain..."_

Why would a chain be on his chest?

Ichigo closed his eyes and focused, hard.

And suddenly, it all came back to him.

A hollow attacked his home and took his sister away from him, right under his nose. He'd tried to get her back, but the monster had been far too strong, he'd been easily killed.

Which meant... this chain must've been what that strange girl was talking about.

And if this chain eroded...

An uncharacteristic snarl passed by his lips, followed closely by a sinister hiss that he knew he would've never been able to produce when he was alive.

If this chain eroded, he would become a hollow.

But that would make him stronger. He might even gain the strength necessary to save his sister... and kill the hollow.

His eyes narrowed in rage.

Yes. The hollow _would _die.

Ichigo reached up with one hand and grasped the chain, before giving it a massive pull.

Pain immediately washed over him in raw, mind-numbing waves of agony, alighting every single nerve and some he never even knew he had with a burning sensation. He collapsed to his knees, mouth wide open in a muted scream.

And then, it was gone.

He felt his body crack and break, bones reforming and muscle snapping and regenerating at inhuman rates. His skin turned white and grew harder, tougher, _stronger_, just like the rest of his body did. His fingers transformed, lengthening into vicious looking claws that clacked together in anticipation whenever he shifted his fingers. A tail took form behind him, completely white but for the last two feet, which was a blood red, and packed full of layer upon layer of hardened muscle. His legs took on a more bird like appearance, his feet even becoming a pair of razor sharp talons.

Finally, a mask faded into view over his face. It was white, save for the red markings that marred the left side of its surface, the same red as his tail. His pupils transformed into a savage yellow while the formerly brown and white parts bled away, a pitch black shade taking their place.

His hollow hole appeared right where his stomach should've been.

Ichigo eyed his new form appreciatively and clacked his fingers together, delighting in the sound the sharp flesh made when it clashed.

A roar brought him from his quiet observation.

His eyes narrowed. Yes! He needed to kill the hollow and save his sister!

He returned the roar and charged at the monster that'd taken his life without second thought. Without a single shred of fear. Without any hesitation.

He needed to kill the hollow!

Kill the hollow and...and...

His pushed his thoughts away and jumped at his opponent, his claws slashing at every inch of flesh they could reach.

The hollow roared in anger and swiped at him with one of his massive hands, but Ichigo jumped over it and over the hollow itself to land on top of the thing's head.

He hissed as his eyes narrowed in satisfaction and he raised a bloody hand over his head.

The hollow never even had a chance to react before Ichigo plunged his hand deep into the back of its neck. It writhed pathetically as its spinal cord was broken, but the smaller hollow was not done.

Ichigo wrapped his hand around its spine and pulled as hard as he could, resulting in half of the thing's back being torn apart in a mess of blood and gore.

He hissed again, this time in anticipation for his meal.

The white and red hollow dropped to his knees and sunk his razor sharp teeth into its kill, delighting in the strength it gave him as he sucked any and all reiatsu out of the corpse.

He stood thirty seconds later, having drained the hollow of its reiatsu completely.

He'd killed the hollow... but he needed to do something else as well.

Ichigo glanced around his kill, only just then noticing the dark haired girl curled into a ball farther down the street.

His sister! He needed...

Something... something to do with his sister!

White hot pain suddenly burst into existence on his right shoulder, the result of the kidō spell Rukia had been charging ever since Ichigo knelt down to feast upon his kill.

The human-sized hollow looked at the wound blankly for a moment, studying it mindlessly as his flesh sealed renew itself.

"...capable of regeneration..." he heard distantly.

It was enough to snap him from his observations though, and his head whipped towards the sound, a roar already surging forth from his throat.

Ichigo advanced slowly on the downed girl, he had no idea what she was or why she had attacked him, but he knew she'd pay for it. He'd make sure of it.

She struggled to her feet as he neared her, but he'd have none of it.

Ichigo backhanded her, throwing her weakened body to the ground. Before she had a chance to even attempt to stand again, he pinned her arms down with his hands, his claws digging painfully into her delicate flesh.

He lowered his head so that it hovered directly above hers, savoring the look of fear and resignation in her eyes as he did so.

He opened his maw, watching as she cringed and turned her head away from him reflexively.

Ichigo growled deep in his throat. This one was fun to toy with...

He wanted to play more.

Ichigo slowed and quieted his breathing so that it was inaudible over the girl's panting. He stilled his body and didn't move a muscle as he watched her stare resolutely away from him.

It was amusing to him, to see how long she would put up a strong front in the face of death.

He stayed that way for an indeterminable amount of time, breathing silently and unmoving over the black haired girl. Staring at the side of her face intently.

His eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch when she licked her lips and squeezed her eyes shut in irritation.

It wouldn't be long now...

He could see the confusion and panic building up in her, he didn't even need to look in her eyes to know it. She was fighting a battle she couldn't win, they both knew it.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes further as she started to move her head restlessly, her arms briefly struggling against her captor's superior strength before giving up again.

She was wounded and he'd just eaten. There was no way she'd come out of this alive.

Ichigo's eyes widened in anticipation, only vaguely realizing that the night had gone eerily quiet since he'd pinned the girl down. He could feel it...

Rukia turned to look at him again.

He reared his head back and bellowed a deep roar, his face inches from hers. His claws dug further into her flesh, far enough to draw blood and make her wince.

When he stopped his howl, her breathing was ragged and there was hint of moisture in her eyes.

"Just do it," she whispered fiercely. "Kill me!"

Ichigo didn't understand her words, but he sure as hell grasped the intent behind them.

He struck out, his jaws clamping around her delicate throat and _squeezed_. He was rewarded with what had to be the best taste a hollow could ever experience.

reiatsu flowed over his tongue and into his being. It caressed the inside of his mouth with its taste for a short moment and moved on not a fraction of a second later.

Too quick, he decided as he desperately tried to savor the taste.

All too soon Ichigo had drained the body of its reiatsu and he found himself wanting more.

He stood and looked around at his surroundings again.

There was girl on her knees in the street a good distance from him. She had black hair that fell to her shoulders and a fearful glint in her eye.

Ichigo vaguely recognized her, but he didn't waste time dwelling on that thought.

He wanted _more. _He _needed_ more.

He needed to satisfy his hunger.

With that thought, he bent his powerful legs and jumped the entire fifty feet between himself and the girl.

He landed with only the smallest of sounds, right next to her.

Ichigo ignored the girl's eyes as they widened in fear, desperation, sadness and betrayal.

"Ichi-nii," she whispered as his hand grasped the shirt she was wearing and easily lifted her into the air.

His jaws clamped down on her neck, sucking the reiatsu out of his third victim.

By now, nearly five minutes had passed since the first hollow had disturbed the formerly quiet night, and another young girl had foolishly wandered out into the night.

Ichigo saw her before she saw him. She had sandy brown hair, the same length as the meal he'd just devoured. She was cautiously making her way closer to him, obviously searching for something, or someone.

He snorted, drawing her attention to his general direction. Her eyes passed right over him several times, but never focused on him.

A grin stretched across his face. His prey couldn't see him.

Ichigo growled low in his throat and started towards the girl. She heard him again, and this time her eyes widened in surprise and a small amount of fear.

"I-Ichi-nii? Karin?"

Another hiss escaped him as he walked passed her.

She whirled in the direction of it, but he was already on her opposite side, growling again.

The girl turned around again, panic now clearly present in her eyes.

"I-Ichi-nii... I'm scared..."

Ichigo watched silently as the girl sunk down to hug her knees to her chest in the middle of the street. Playing with his prey was quickly becoming his favorite thing to do.

A muffled sniffle and a choked sob came from his next meal on the ground.

He grimaced, deciding to feast now before she cried any longer.

With that thought, he grasped her shoulders and, ignoring her gasp and tear stained face, sank his many pointed teeth into her neck.

Just as he was finishing with his fourth meal, another figure came running up the street. He was clearly out of breath, as if he'd just run for a long distance, but Ichigo didn't care about any of that.

All he cared about was how good the man's reiatsu felt.

Ichigo watched intently, unmoving as the man stopped about thirty feet from him to take in the scene.

"Damn Urahara Kisuke. Damn him to hell," the man muttered fiercely under his breath as his eyes grew more and more hollow with each corpse he saw.

"Karin... Yuzu... "Kurosaki Isshin muttered as his eyes flickered back and forth between the husks that were once his daughters.

A tear ran down his cheek as his eyes came to stop on the only figure that was still living besides himself.

"Ichigo..."

He watched as the hollow charged him. If only he hadn't wasted so much time with Urahara, hadn't allowed himself to get absorbed by his past memories...then he might've been able to stop this from ever happening.

The hollow that was once his son leaped into the air, its maw opening in anticipation for its fifth meal.

Isshin hadn't regained enough of his shinigami powers to be able to cleanse a hollow soul, so that wasn't an option. He could easily kill it with kidō, but he knew that when hollow's evolved, they regained enough of their minds to become more than thoughtless monsters.

And he would never be able to bring himself to kill his own son, no matter what Ichigo had done or what he'd become.

Isshin swallowed heavily and remained motionless as the hollow closed in on him. His family was dead. Yuzu and Karin having been killed by their own brother and Ichigo having suffered a fate that was far worse than anything Isshin could ever imagine.

They say the empty feeling that hollows suffer never truly goes away.

"Come my son," he whispered under his breath, tears freely flowing down his face. "Use my power... and live."

* * *

Urahara Kisuke sat quietly in his shop, focusing heavily on his ability to sense nearby reiatsu sources.

Isshin had left a few minutes ago, laughing off the last of their reminiscing as he walked towards his home.

He felt Isshin clearly, slowly ambling away from his shop and in the direction of his family's house. Another pair of rejautsu, one shinigami and one hollow, were somewhere across town. At this distance, Kisuke couldn't really determine where they were exactly, but it didn't matter either way.

He wouldn't do anything unless the hollow came directly after him, just as he'd done ever since he'd been banished from Soul Society.

So, he continued focusing on the reiatsu signatures while idly sipping at a cup of tea.

Eventually, one of the smaller reiatsu sources, one that doubtlessly belonged to a human, faded away.

Urahara sighed. A minute amount of guilt clawing at his mind. He would've been able to save that human, but he couldn't... he wouldn't interfere. It wasn't his business anymore.

He was somewhat startled when another hollow's reiatsu signature abruptly appeared near the first two he'd felt, but remained in his shop, calmly sipping away at his tea.

Kisuke smirked when one of the hollow's disappeared, likely due to the efforts of the shinigami in the area.

When the shinigami disappeared though...he started to worry. And when Isshin's signature abruptly picked up the speed at which it was moving, Urahara was _very _close to leaving his shop.

But he stayed.

He soon felt another smaller reiatsu vanish after the shinigami.

It was then that he realized what was happening.

He dashed out of the door and immediately took to the roof tops, using every ounce of speed he had to get to the opposite side of town before-

Another smaller reiatsu signature vanished.

Urahara swallowed heavily. Isshin was there with the hollow now, and even though the Kurosaki patriarch couldn't use his zanpakutou just yet, the man's kidō would be more than enough to kill off any hollow of this strength.

When Kurosaki Isshin's signature vanished though, Kisuke stumbled.

"What just happened?"

* * *

Ichigo dashed along the roof tops of Karakura Town, putting as much distance as he could between him and the spiritual presence that had been heading toward his previous location.

The reiatsu signature he'd felt, even from such a long distance as half way across town, had scared him. His instincts took over and he fled, he fled as fast as his legs could carry him.

He used what little skill he had at sensing reiatsu signatures to try and find the one that he needed to avoid. After several seconds and no small amount of effort, he found that the signature had gotten to where he'd had his first five meals and stayed there.

It wasn't following him anymore.

Ichigo grunted in satisfaction and instead focused on another trio of reiatsu signatures nearby. They were the only other ones that stood out to him, so he started making his way towards them without a second thought.

* * *

Yasutora Sado suppressed a shiver as he walked a step behind Arisawa Tatsuki and Inoue Orihime. He had an odd feeling that something was about to go wrong in an otherwise peaceful and quiet night.

The tall teen shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts, he was only being paranoid after all, and focused back on the conversation that Tatsuki and Orihime were having in front of him.

"He only got lucky, I'll get him next time," Arisawa was saying.

"But Tatsuki-chan," Inoue responded, "you always say that when Kurosaki-kun wins."

The darker haired girl waved off her comment. "Naw, I didn't say it after we sparred last time."

"That's because you won that one..."

"Thanks for reminding me," Tatsuki said with a grin on her face.

Orihime only smiled and shook her head, silence falling over the group.

Sado, or Chad as Ichigo had taken to calling him, suppressed another shiver. He was beginning to think that odd feeling he'd had before wasn't something to just ignore. It was growing stronger and stronger with each passing second.

The hair on the back of his neck stood tall and he got the distinct feeling that he was being watched.

He grunted and stopped abruptly, spinning around to search the night for anything out of place.

"Sado-san?" Orihime asked after a moment of watching the boy scan the nearby houses. "What's wrong?"

Chad shook his head, taking one last look around the alleyways and rooftops of the houses that he was near, and turned around.

"I thought I saw something... must've been my imagination."

"It was probably from the thrashing I gave you earlier," Tatsuki said, her grin still on her face.

"But Tatsuki-chan," Orihime turned to her friend, "Sado-san beat you too."

A snort. "Yeah well... I'll get him next time."

Chad tuned out their conversation again in favor of glancing around warily. That feeling was still weighing heavily on his shoulders and he didn't want anything to catch him off guard.

Something in the corner of his eye abruptly drew his attention. He turned to find what appeared to be a blur, a distortion of air racing across the rooftops on the opposite side of the street.

Suddenly, the blur stopped.

Chad got the distinct feeling that it was watching him.

And then, it jumped.

Chad tracked it until he lost sight of its figure against the clear night sky and settled into a defensive stance.

"Sado-san?" Orihime started to question, but she cut herself off when the street next to them suddenly cracked and broke under the weight of the same blur Chad was trying to track.

* * *

Ichigo watched the humans silently from his position in the street. They'd all jumped when he'd landed heavily and were now staring warily in his direction.

He let a low hiss escape his throat and, without any further hesitation, jumped forward to enjoy his next meal.

They didn't feel like they had as much reiatsu as his other meals, but he didn't care.

He'd do anything to fill the void where his heart used to be, after all.

* * *

"Aizen-sama."

The brown haired man turned his head to face the one who addressed him.

"The hōgyoku has changed vessels," Ichimaru Gin stated through his ever present grin.

One of Aizen's eyebrows arched in curiosity.

"It has now? I wonder how that might've occurred," he mused softly to himself. "Who might our lucky host be now?"

"He goes by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Kurosaki hmm?" the captain of the fifth squad muttered. A moment later, the edge of his lips quirked up. "Kurosaki Ichigo wouldn't happen to be a hollow now, would he?"

If possible, Ichimaru's grin widened. "He is."

"This is good..." Aizen murmured, almost to himself, a contemplative glint in his eye. "Gin, make sure our friend finds his way into Hueco Mundo without incident. I will handle your shift in Central 46."

The man nodded and turned to leave. "You got it," he sang as he left.

* * *

**A/N: **So, an idea for a Hollow Ichigo fic came to me as I was writing another chapter for my Naruto story and absolutely refused to leave me alone until I wrote a bit. This is the result.

The sole pairing I'm going to confirm right now is Ichigo/Apache. I don't really have any plans for any other couples, but that may change as the story goes on...never know.

I changed the way hollows absorb reiatsu for simplicity's sake, instead of actually eating their victims, they just suck out their reiatsu and soul.

Finally, my Naruto story will take priority over this one. I do have a general story line worked out worked out already, so it's not like updates will be extremely slow for this, I'll just be writing it as inspiration comes to me.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own any of the characters or ideas used in this story, Bleach isn't mine.

**This chapter assumes basic knowledge about the anime Bleach.**

A Hollowed Existence

Ichimaru Gin slowly stepped out of the rip he'd torn in the atmosphere above the peaceful town of Karakura.

He glanced down at the unassuming city that practically reeked of normality. Homes, businesses and schools formed neat and organized lines through which streets ran. There were very few buildings that reached above three stories in height, giving the town a quiet and quaint feeling to it.

Gin slowly allowed his senses to extend over the surrounding area, searching out his target. It was still the middle of the night, so there were very few outside the sanctity of their homes.

The odd shinigami grinned his face-splitting grin. His target was stronger than he thought he'd be by now.

"I wanna know what that boy's eatin' and where I can get myself some of it."

He chuckled under his breath, his grin widening when he truly put some thought into Kurosaki Ichigo's current reiatsu levels.

To have gained that much in just a few hours... Aizen-sama would certainly be pleased.

With that thought, he flashed out of existence in the direction of Aizen's newest interest.

* * *

Ichigo sat down heavily against the fence on top of the school he used to attend. He grunted in satisfaction as he felt his newly gained reiatsu churn pleasantly as it was fully absorbed into his body and hissed in anticipation when he felt that weird girl's spiritual energy start to get absorbed.

He needed to figure out what that girl was and why she had such delicious reiatsu. It was so much more filling and satisfying than the feeling any of his other meals gave him... the fifth one was certainly better than the other ones, but the second one was nothing short of addicting to him.

Another reiatsu signature served to snap him out of his contemplation.

It was heading directly for him and with a frightening amount of speed. It felt just like the weird girl's did.

Ichigo climbed to his feet and hissed excitedly. Another meal with the same taste as the girl's!

He clacked his claws together and focused more on the incoming spiritual presence.

It was large, bigger than any other presence he'd felt in the area before.

Ichigo let out a feral huff, suddenly indecisive.

In his excitement, he'd failed to realize just how big the reiatsu signature was. Just how oppressive, how overwhelming it was.

He hissed again, though this time it was out of wariness.

This spiritual pressure was far too much for him in his current state. He needed to run, to get as far away from it as he could.

He turned and jumped up to the top of the fence then used his powerful legs to hurl himself off the school and down three stories to the front courtyard.

Ichigo landed heavily, his tail flicking about to keep himself balanced, and immediately sprinted away from the incoming reiatsu signature.

His eyes widened in fear when he realized that there was no way he'd be able to out run it, already he could see a small white dot in the clear sky rocketing straight for him. He let out another feral huff and turned to face whatever was chasing him.

He sucked in a breath and let out a vicious roar, a desperate attempt to scare away the spiritual presence.

It continued toward him though, completely ignoring the roar and pulse of reiatsu that followed it.

Ichigo growled defiantly and settled into a crouch, his muscles tensed and ready to move whenever it was necessary. Much to his surprise though, the creature emitting the oppressive reiatsu stopped right in front of him, landing softly on his feet.

"So this is Kurosaki Ichigo," Gin said, his odd grin firmly in place on his face. "Aizen-sama's got big plans for you, yanno."

Ichigo eyed him warily, he couldn't understand any of the words the creature spoke, but he could grasp the intent behind them.

This man was either very deceptive, or he truly had no intention to kill him.

"But where're my manners," Gin continued as though the hollow could understand him, "my name's Ichimaru Gin, shinigami of Soul Society."

The white haired man paused for a second, then suddenly started to advance on Ichigo.

He ignored the warning growl and accompanying hiss in favor of drawing his sword, much to the anger of the red and white hollow standing mere feet from him.

"Mah mah, don't worry Kurosaki, I ain't gonna hurt ya. I'm just here to give you a little push in the right direction, ya see?"

He raised his sword up and slashed at the air to his side. A rip that gave way to pitch black darkness formed where he'd dragged his zanpakutō.

Ichigo eyed the sight with increasing wariness. The only thing stopping him from attempting to rip the man in front of him to shreds being the primal fear he felt at someone with so much more power than him.

Gin abruptly reached out and grabbed the hollow's forearm, causing the beast to roar in anger. He ignored it, just as he had before, and heaved it into the portal before it could attempt any retaliation.

"Well, Kurosaki Ichigo, Aizen-sama's taken an interest in ya, ya best not be disappointin' him..."

The shinigami watched silently as the rip he'd created shrunk back down until it had disappeared completely, sealing Ichigo in the world of the hollows, in Hueco Mundo.

"Get strong, Kurosaki."

* * *

After Gin had thrown him into the portal, Ichigo's senses left him completely. Everything around him, as far as his eyes could see, was black. Complete and utter nothingness. The only thing that stayed with him was that infernal hunger, a constant ache from where his hollow hole resided.

He focused his senses and found that he could detect no other presences nearby and as far as he could tell, he was just floating aimlessly.

He didn't really know how long he stayed in that state, for how long he'd just floated in the pitch black darkness, but eventually, everything returned to him in a rush of sound, color and smell.

There were masses of hollows shuffling around idly for as far he could see and sense. They weren't attacking one another nor making any sort of noise... they were just walking with absolutely no purpose.

He heard roars and howls in the distance, from somewhere deeper in the forest he'd found himself in. They weren't coming from anywhere nearby though, so he disregarded them for the time being.

The air was dry and hot, whatever this place was, it was much more unpleasant than the conditions he'd been in when he was back in that town.

Ichigo glanced around him, taking in the sight of various other hollows wandering about in a daze around him and then disappearing again into the seemingly endless crowd. Farther in the distance, he could see giant beings that were pitch black in color, save for the white mask on their faces. They too were shuffling around each other, apparently lost to the world.

He snarled in rage and distaste. This... this was far too... too complacent, too easy-going for him.

A few of the other hollows around him turned their heads to look at him as they passed, but he ignored it.

There was no excitement here, no action... nothing but constant shuffling. He wouldn't stand for it!

Reiatsu began to crackle in the air around him, drawing some of his brethren to him, like moths to a flame.

He wanted to be back in the world he'd first found himself in upon his creation. He wanted to be able to hunt again, to be able to see the fear in his victim's eyes before he devoured them! Didn't these hollows feel the same hunger he himself constantly suffered under?!

The reiatsu grew, and along with it the crowd of hollows around him. He remained oblivious to it all, too focused on his thoughts.

Ichigo hissed and growled in anger. He'd kill that man for sending him here, for forcing him to exist alongside these fools, these brainless husks that once used to be bloodthirsty hollows!

The reiatsu gathering around him reached its pinnacle and, with a sharp cracking sound, abruptly expanded outward, washing over all the nearby hollow in a rush of power.

They started merging, forming a shapeless blob of hollow flesh, and converged on Ichigo.

Ichigo himself roared in anger, still caught up in his thoughts of how he'd kill that white haired man, when the rest of his fellow hollows came into contact with him.

The white mass latched on to him, absorbing him into it and growing in size at the same time.

Slowly, Ichigo found himself being raised higher and higher into the air, lifted by the mass of hollows that had converged on him, the mass of hollows that was slowly fading to a black color.

He growled in approval. Something was happening, something other than merely _existing._

He liked it.

The hollow flesh convulsed once and then settled, solidifying into the same shape that Ichigo had observed earlier when he'd seen the massive black hollows in the distance. A large hollow hole appeared in the middle of its body. Spikes formed around the being near the top, bearing a striking resemblance to a choker. Finally, a mask unique to those that the other Gillian wore formed on the newest one's face.

It was pure white, but for the three blood red lines that ran down the left side of its face.

Kurosaki Ichigo had evolved into a Gillian class hollow.

* * *

"Seven casualties, Jūshirō! Seven! This is unacceptable, never before has a hollow managed to kill so many in one night."

The white haired man bowed his head. "My apologies, Genryūsai-sensei."

Captain Commander Yamamoto sighed and shook his head, his fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"No... I don't need your apologies, I need your promise that one of your subordinates will not fail like this again."

Jūshirō nodded, looking away at the mention of Rukia's death. "I will make sure my squad is better prepared to face down hollows in the future."

"See that you do." Yamamoto muttered in return, silently observing the rest of the captains of the Gotei 13. He'd called a meeting as soon as he heard the news that _one_ hollow had somehow managed to kill the shinigami that was on duty in the area, as well as six other humans, before mysteriously disappearing completely. _One _hollow that had been in existence for under _one _hour.

Soifon, second squad captain, appeared to be completely uncaring, likely unable to realize just how much potential this hollow had to become a problem in the future. She was still young though, barely over two hundred years old, she would learn in time.

Ichimaru Gin, third squad captain, didn't have the usual grin on his face, but beyond that, his expression was completely indecipherable.

Unohana Retsu, fourth squad, and Sōsuke Aizen, fifth squad, were both frowning, just as Yamamoto had expected. The two of them probably understood why this meeting was being held and why this hollow needed to be eliminated before it gained further power.

Kuchiki Byakuya, sixth squad captain, had his eyes closed in apparent contemplation over recent events.

Komamura Sajin, seventh squad captain, was hidden behind his helm and Kyōraku Shunsui, eighth squad captain, was clearly trying not to look bored. There was a glint in his eye that told the Captain Commander he understood the significance of the meeting though.

Tōsen Kaname, ninth squad captain, was expressionless, as usual, while Hitsugaya Tōshirō, tenth squad captain, was obviously starting to work out why this 'ordinary' hollow was important.

Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the eleventh squad, was grinning, likely at the prospect of facing the hollow in a fight.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri, twelfth squad captain, was grinning as well, probably due to thoughts of research he could conduct on the subject of the meeting.

"This hollow," Yamamoto started, "must be dealt with immediately. Its first appearance was recorded just a few short minutes before Kuchiki Rukia's death."

He saw Byakuya tense out of the corner of his eye. It was somewhat common knowledge that Byakuya's late wife was Rukia's sister and it was well known throughout Soul Society that Byakuya personally took Rukia into his clan in remembrance of his wife.

Several pairs of eyes narrowed. A hollow capable of killing a shinigami of Kuchiki Rukia's caliber just minutes after its birth? She was easily strong enough to become vice-captain of squad thirteen, the only thing that stopped her from doing just that was her brother's influence... to encounter a hollow with that strength just minutes after it's birth...

"Kurotsuchi, I want to you to keep track of this hollow at all times and, as soon as we have the chance, we will dispose of it."

The odd looking man nodded.

"Jūshirō, double the watch on Karakura Town from now on. I will not have any more unnecessary deaths."

Yamamoto received a nod from the man.

"Soifon, your squad will be made responsible for the destruction of this hollow, be sure that you have a team ready at all times."

"Hai, sōtaichō."

Yamamoto took a moment to scan over the gathered the captains before speaking.

"Very well. Dismissed."

* * *

He sighted another unique-mask and immediately made a beeline for it, cero charging ominously in his mouth as he did so. In contrast to the ordinary white masked Gillian, those with unique masks always had more reiatsu and power to be absorbed after the kill.

Ichigo let loose a massive roar, alerting the other unique-mask to his presence, as he released his cero. The glowing ball of deadly energy impacted his victim squarely on its mask and made it howl in pain and rage.

It opened its mouth to begin charging its own cero, but Ichigo would have none of it.

He moved in quickly while it was still dazed from his attack and had it firmly in his jaws before its cero could even be charged to half strength.

The dying unique-mask cried out in desperation and thrashed against the jaws of its soon-to-be-killer, but failed in its goal to get away.

And so, Ichigo's fourteenth kill died.

The victor silently went about draining the reiatsu from its prey deep within the confines of the forest under Hueco Mundo's desert, using what little brain power it had to reason out its next course of action.

The normal white masks were too easy to kill and left him unsatisfied with their reiatsu. He refused to kill them, and if he did, it would only be as a last resort.

Instead, he'd started to actively seek out unique-masks, Gillian that could fight back.

Draining their reiatsu was much more satisfying.

Ichigo dropped his latest kill, having drained all the reiatsu he could from it, and straightened his body so that he could see farther into the dense forests.

Unique-masks, while infinitely more fun to hunt, were also more rare than the regular Gillian. In fact, he'd only managed to find five ever since he first evolved.

He growled, a low rumbling sound in his current massive form, and actually started to contemplate killing the ones that didn't put up a fight, if only to advance to a new form faster.

Ichigo could feel himself growing closer though, closer and closer with every passing day to his next evolution. With the reiatsu of five unique-masks and all the energy he'd been passively absorbing from the environment, he knew he only needed a few more kills to advance.

So, he wandered on farther into the forest.

After some days' time of searching for his next meal, the exact amount of time indeterminable to him, he came upon a clearing filled with hollows. He saw many smaller ones shuffling around, just like they had been when he used to be one of them, and farther away, many Gillian wandering aimlessly.

Ichigo growled in satisfaction. He could make out at least two unique-masks feasting on their mindless brethren while completely ignoring each other, just like the cowards that they were.

It'd always been a point of annoyance for him, to see unique-masks ignore each other in favor of going after the easier kills. They didn't like the challenge prey that could fight back presented to them, they didn't want to work for their kills.

A snarl was ripped from his throat as he drew close to the mass of Gillian and he opened his mouth wide, pouring massive amounts of reiatsu into forming a cero.

The closest unique-mask was killed before it was even aware it was under attack, its form blown away by the power of Ichigo's cero, leaving only its mask behind. Its remains were quickly consumed by him and, without pausing to revel in the feeling of new power, Ichigo turned to the remaining unique-mask.

It was facing away from him, busy with devouring another mindless Gillian, so he went completely unnoticed until his jaws clamped down on its being.

He immediately recognized the feeling of power running through his form as different from his last kills. This unique-mask was close to evolving, closer than Ichigo was himself, and so it held massive amounts of reiatsu.

His mouth squeezed tighter, desperate for more of the powerful reiatsu. He was quickly rewarded.

Ichigo reflexively opened his mouth, releasing the half dead unique-mask, when his vision was overcome with a blinding white light.

He could feel himself shrinking and he tried to roar in anger, completely unaware of what was happening to him. No sound came from his throat though and he received the same mute results when he tried to hiss.

The light continued to assault him until he was sure he'd be killed in his defenseless state, but then, it all stopped.

He opened his eyes again, now finding himself much closer to the floor of the forest than he had been before. His entire body felt different from the one he'd been in for the past several weeks. He could feel his legs and arms again, his thought process had to be at least ten times as advanced as it was when he was a Gillian and now there was a muted humming sound resonating in the back of his mind.

Ichigo lifted up his hands, finding clawed fingers, just like the form he vaguely remembered himself having before he'd become a Gillian. They were covered in white, hardened skin that continued up his arms to cover his entire body. His feet took on the appearance of vicious looking talons and he clearly felt a tail on his body again.

His mask was back to its normal size too, the same three blood red lines running from the top left part of his forehead, over his left eye and down his cheek present once again as well.

A hollow hole was situated over his stomach.

If he didn't know better, he would've assumed that he was still in his most basic hollow form, the one that was unable to even use a cero, but the reiatsu pulsing through his veins told him otherwise. He was strong, stronger than he'd ever been before.

He reared his head back and howled up at the forest around him.

Kurosaki Ichigo had evolved into an Adjuchas class hollow.

* * *

Two short days later, after Ichigo had just made and drained his seventy-third kill, he encountered a visitor unlike any hollow he'd ever seen before.

The thing was practically overflowing with reiatsu, to the point where his limbs felt twice as heavy as they should be. Its mask looked a lot like his own, but where its left eye should've been an empty black patch resided and it had shoulder length brown hair. Its legs were covered in dark fur from the knee down and its arms from the elbows down, otherwise white skin covered the rest of its body. Its hollow hole was located on its sternum.

"Who're you?" Ichigo questioned warily and somewhat gruffly – he still wasn't used to using his voice again. This hollow wasn't something he wanted to mess with.

It glanced down at the orange haired hollow, then ignored him to instead take in its surroundings, looking for something.

Ichigo swallowed whatever insult his mind had ready to use at the hollow for ignoring him and instead slowly got to his feet. It paid him no mind, not even when he turned to walk away.

"Kid."

Ichigo almost jumped at the sound of its voice, but managed to turn around somewhat calmly with a single eyebrow raised.

The hollow smirked at him. "I'd get the hell away from here, as fast as you can, if I were you. I pissed a hollow off something fierce and, when two Vasto Lorde fight, anything in the surrounding area is in danger."

"I can take care of myself," Ichigo scowled and continued walking away from the hollow.

He'd gained a reputation in this part of the forest in the two days he'd been an Adjuchas, some hollow knew him by name, others by sight. Regardless, the fact that he'd killed over fifty of his fellows in less than forty eight hours hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the inhabitants of the forest. And yet, this hollow appeared out of no where, literally, and told him to run because...

The other hollow's words suddenly registered in Ichigo's head.

"_Vasto Lorde!"_

The Vasto Lorde were the elite of elite in Hueco Mundo. They were known to every single hollow, regardless of whether or not they had revealed their names. Their reiatsu alone was enough to inform any creature nearby of just how much power they held, a constant reminder of the massive gap between them and the Adjuchas class.

He spun back around, only to find that the Vasto Lorde had disappeared.

Suddenly, the forest seemed a little too quiet to be normal.

Ichigo turned and ran without a second thought and later, when he would hear and feel the effects on the environment of a fight between two Vasto Lorde, he would be truly grateful he decided to get away from that particular section of the forest.

* * *

One-hundred and forty four.

He'd managed to kill his one-hundred forty fourth hollow five days after he'd advanced to an Adjuchas class.

Now, as he sat high up in a tree, he had his sights set on his one-hundred forty fifth. It was a tall and lanky hollow, which meant it'd have far superior reach and it certainly felt more powerful than most other Adjuchas he'd found before. The thing was aware of his presence, Ichigo knew it was, but that didn't stop him from preparing to lunge at it.

He pushed off his perch with a burst of reiatsu to enhance his movements and screeched a battle cry as he flew directly at the lanky hollow.

It side stepped him though and wasted no time in lashing out with one of its arms, tipped with deadly claws. Ichigo ducked under it easily enough and made an attempt to get inside his opponent's guard.

He was forced back before he could even come close to the hollow's body though, its long arms and legs were quickly proving to be troublesome.

The constant buzzing sound of the souls he'd eaten grew louder in his head, their uncertainty of his victory causing unrest and panic to develop.

Ichigo forced them down without mercy and focused his attention back on the fight, just in time to jump away from the hollow's claws as it lashed out at him.

"**Ichigo, use me."**

He grit his teeth together as he blocked another strike. That damned voice again! It was only voice that could consistently reach him with actual words and he had no idea how to make it stop. It wasn't like the other souls in his head, it couldn't be silenced by attempting to block it out, it always got through no matter what. Just like that insatiable hunger he always felt.

"Not now damnit!" he cursed under his breath.

A cero forming at the tip of his opponent's tongue forced Ichigo to retreat several yards in order to avoid taking any major damage.

"**Use me, Ichigo. Call upon my power."**

His eyes narrowed as he watched the hollow charge him, arms flying forward to strike at him before the body was even in reach.

The voice had never said anything about power before...

He carefully blocked two more strikes, one with his leg and the other with his forearm, then attempted to dash inside his opponent's guard. The result was the same as his first attempt, forced back by limbs longer than his own.

"Damnit!"

"**Ichigo, call upon my power. Call me by name!"**

"I don't know your damned name," he spat out as he took a kick to the side, grunting when he was sent flying through the air to impact a tree a few yards away.

"**You do. You've always known it."**

Ichigo was about to insist that he didn't know the voice's damned name again, but apparently his opponent had decided to try and end the fight.

The hollow's arms suddenly grew and lengthened, rocketing toward Ichigo as he pulled himself out of the tree.

"Shit!"

He ducked under the first arm that reached him and then side stepped the other, he was then forced to jump over the first arm as it swung at him again, attempting to take out his feet. The second arm shot toward him again while he was still in the air, leaving only one option for him if he wanted to live.

He'd have to block the sharp looking claws.

That could result in him losing a part of his mask or armor though, and if that happened...

If that happened, he'd never be able to advance any further than his current level of strength.

"_Like I'd let that fucking happen!"_

Ichigo licked his lips just as a word came to him, almost like an instinct. It both calmed and excited him at the same time, this word. It filled him with adrenaline and confidence.

"Zangetsu!"

A massive cleaver appeared in his hand, already in the perfect position to block the incoming hand. He knocked it away as he landed safely on his feet again and wasted no time in dashing toward his opponent with speed he hadn't had before.

He managed to out run the hollow's arms as they attempted to return to its body before Ichigo reached it and, with a triumphant roar, he brought his new blade down on the hollow's mask, obliterating its existence forever and allowing him to absorb the spiritual energy of what had to be his toughest kill yet.

After Ichigo had drained the spiritual energy out of the Adjuchas' corpse, he looked down at the blade in his hand.

It didn't have a guard and it was at least as long as three fourths of his height. It practically hummed with reiatsu, but it wasn't the reiatsu he'd been used to feeling run through his body for the past month or two.

It was the reiatsu of a shinigami.

Surprisingly though, Ichigo found that he didn't hunger for this blade's spiritual energy. Instead, he felt as though it were one with himself...

His brow furrowed. That couldn't be right...

He was a hollow.

Wasn't he?

"Zangetsu..."

* * *

It'd been one week since Ichigo had managed to advance to Adjuchas. One week of wandering aimlessly in the massive forests beneath Hueco Mundo's surface.

He'd managed to kill three-hundred and sixty four hollows.

Zangetsu had sped up the rate at which he could kill by an amount that would've been unimaginable to him, unbelievable to him, had he not done it himself.

His sight was feared in the forests and he was almost known universally. Likely thanks to the weaker hollows that'd seen him in action, the ones he'd deemed unworthy of the effort it would've taken him to kill them.

Of course, they didn't know his name. He'd never told anyone his name before.

Some had taken to calling him 'Devastation' because of the destruction that he left in his wake when he used the special ability of Zangetsu, a crescent of deadly reiatsu that obliterated anything in its path. It was easily as strong as his cero and he could use it much faster as well.

Some had deemed him 'Shrieker' because of what he sounded like when he roared out the name of his unique attack – Getsuga Tenshō! - and the yowls of agony that echoed eerily through the forest after it.

Ichigo thought both of them were rather foolish, but the looks of fear weaker hollows gave him due to his reputation made suffering through the nicknames worth it.

At present he was jumping from tree branch to tree branch, continuing his endless search for his next meal.

By now he was certain that he was nearly half way from his transformation into a Vasto Lorde. It was just a feeling he had, something he couldn't explain. It came to him as naturally as pain did from sore muscles and ecstasy did from absorbing the reiatsu of his kills.

He stopped his traveling and closed his eyes to better focus on a reiatsu signature that resided on the edge of his senses.

He started toward it, reaching up over his left shoulder to grasp Zangetsu by its hilt and pulling it free from the bindings he'd made for it out of vines.

As Ichigo started to draw close to his target, the reiatsu he was feeling abruptly intensified to levels that far surpassed his own.

He came to an abrupt stop as he landed on a tree branch and squinted ahead in the distance to see what the hell had caused the change in spiritual pressure.

He could vaguely make out a humanoid form, with what looked to be fur on his arms and legs, fighting a smaller but more heavily built figure. There were two others in the clearing up ahead, but all they appeared to be doing was darting in and out of the fight to attack the taller figure while the short one had him distracted.

Ichigo could tell that this was a fight between two Vasto Lorde, he could easily tell that simply by the pressure exerted upon his shoulders by the reiatsu. The other two figures though, there was no way they were Vasto Lorde caliber. And if they weren't Vasto Lorde, what the hell were they doing interfering in a battle like this?

He snorted. As far as he knew, Vasto Lorde were solitary creatures and they weren't known to look for allies... for the shorter one to do just that...

The guy must really want to beat his opponent, who Ichigo recognized as the same Vasto Lorde he'd run into earlier that week in the forest.

"Well Zangetsu, I've done a lot of stupid things before, but I think this one'll top them all."

"**Indeed."**

With that, Ichigo charged forward into the battle being held by two of the most powerful hollows in existence.

* * *

Starrk jumped backwards to avoid being decapitated by Barragan's blade-like fingers while simultaneously lifting two of his own fingers in the direction of one of the Adjuchas to fire off two deadly cero, keeping the annoyance at bay.

His attention was quickly forced back to the stout hollow in front of him when it attempted to gut him with his hands.

The taller of the Vasto Lorde gracefully sidestepped the blow and immediately forced Barragan away from him by swinging a powerful leg out at his head.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

Starrk's head snapped towards one of the Adjuchas Barragan had brought along to annoy him this time, just in time to see it get engulfed in a blaze of deadly blue reiatsu.

The other Adjuchas howled in anger, but it didn't get far before a cero flew out of the trees and impacted the ground below it, tossing it helplessly up in the air.

A blur shot out of the cover the trees provided and, after a wet slicing sound, easily cut its victim cleanly in two.

"Thought I told you to avoid a fight between two Vasto Lorde, kid."

Ichigo grinned, a gesture Starrk returned, albeit less enthusiastically.

"Thought you'd be happy I got rid of your annoyances for you."

A shrug. "I was just about to do that myself."

Before Ichigo could respond, the shorter of the two Vasto Lorde in the clearing charged him.

He grimaced and used Zangetsu to block the first jab Barragan made at him with his fingers then twisted his blade around to block the second as well; he was knocked horribly off balance by the sheer power behind the strikes in the process. Before the Vasto Lorde could press his attack though, he was forced back by a short chain of cero, courtesy of Starrk.

Barragan growled low in his throat as he eyed his fellow Vasto Lorde. "This is not over."

With that, he vanished from the clearing, leaving Ichigo and Starrk alone with the corpses of the two Adjuchas.

Starrk gestured to them after a moment's pause. "Go ahead, I don't need to absorb reiatsu to stay at my level."

"You know," the brown haired Vasto Lorde commented after having watched Ichigo kneel down and drain one corpse completely then begin devouring the second, "you're pretty trusting of me. I could've killed you at any time when you had your back to me."

Ichigo grunted. "If you wanted me dead, I'd have been dead a long time ago."

"True," came the response as Starrk watched the last of the reiatsu get drained from the second corpse.

A short silence came over the clearing.

"Well kid, I can honestly say you've impressed me with how quickly you've grown... Don't go and die now hmm?"

Before Ichigo could say anything, Starrk was gone.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Ichigo became an Adjuchas class, just under a month and a half since he'd first been turned into a hollow back in Karakura Town.

He'd made eight-hundred and three kills since that night.

Currently, he was slowly ambling through the forests of Hueco Mundo, the familiar weight of Zangetsu resting silently on his back.

He was close now, he could feel it it with all his being. Just another few more days and he was sure he'd be a Vasto Lorde.

Little did Ichigo know, his ascension to Vasto Lorde was exactly what one man was waiting for to make his move.

* * *

"Aizen-sama, just like ya predicted, he's gone an' gotten a shinigami's zanpakutō."

Sōsuke Aizen looked up from his work to see the ever grinning face of Ichimaru Gin staring down at him.

"He did now? I suppose he must've been a natural shinigami after all."

Gin nodded. "He's already figured out how ta' use its special ability too."

A grin blossomed on Aizen's face. "Wonderful. I will allow the hōgyoku to reside in him until he reaches a satisfactory level of strength with his hollow powers."

"I don't exactly get what yer doin', but then again, yer planning's always confused me," Gin added as he grinned wide enough to show his teeth.

A serene smile spread across the fifth squad captain's face. "Only planning for the future my dear friend, only planning for the future."

* * *

Nine hundred and eighty-one.

The buzzing sound in his head was starting to become unbearable at this point...but he was _so close_.

He knew he'd change soon. It'd be real soon, after any kill now. He could feel it. Any kill now...

"**Ichigo, you mustn't allow the souls you've consumed to overwhelm you. You bear the weight of being the only true hybrid between hollow and shinigami, both sides of your power came to you naturally, do not allow the potential you have to be wasted now!"**

Ichigo nodded, somewhat distracted, and forced the voices in his head down to a low murmur.

It'd been about sixteen days since he'd become an Adjuchas and he was so close to becoming a Vasto Lorde that is was starting to become an obsession that plagued him just as much as his eternal hunger.

Becoming a Vasto Lord was no easy task, not by any means. Out of the millions of hollow that resided in Hueco Mundo there perhaps a dozen Vasto Lorde, maybe a few more, and all of them had to work for months, sometimes years, to get there.

All while avoiding taking any damage to their masks. For if an Adjuchas' mask was damaged in any way, their progress toward Vasto Lorde would stop permanently.

The fact that Ichigo had started out as a normal hollow less than two months ago was nothing short of amazing and it was being noticed.

It was unheard of for a hollow to progress as quickly as he had and never before had there been a hollow in Hueco Mundo that possessed a shinigami zanpakutō, much less the skill to make use of its special abilties.

'Devastation' was certainly a name that all the hollows in Hueco Mundo knew and feared.

A strong reiatsu signature on the edge of his senses attracted Ichigo's attention.

He stopped on a tree branch and wasted no time in turning to hunt down his newest prey, just as he had done relentlessly for the entirety of his time in Hueco Mundo.

The Adjuchas quickly closed in on the reiatsu signature, idly noting that it felt different from any of the other hollows he'd encountered before.

A grin spread across Ichigo's face as he pulled Zangetsu from its restraints with his right hand, adrenaline coursing through his body as his anticipation heightened.

He burst out of the cover the trees provided with a roar already howling from throat.

His target turned – Ichigo noted with no small amount of surprise that he wore shinigami robes and had an odd looking mask over his face – and pulled his blade out of its sheath to meet Zangetsu.

The blades clashed together and the shinigami was forced to his knees, mostly due to the fact that he'd been caught flat footed and Ichigo had the added benefit of momentum on his side.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

The man grit his teeth beneath his mask as the pressure on his blade increased to impossible levels. Just what was this hollow? Surely it wasn't a normal Adjuchas... it was far too strong!

Dark reiatsu, a startling contrast to the color of Ichigo's first attack, started to gather in the Adjuchas' mouth.

"Cero!"

The shinigami bit back his scream as he was blasted off his feet from the force of the combined attacks and the robes covering his chest were torn to shreds. He impacted the unforgiving ground heavily and bounced several yards before he came to a stop.

He quickly struggled to his feet, rising just in time to throw up a sloppy block that actually saved him from being sliced in half at the waist.

Ichigo growled in appreciation. This time his prey could actually fight back enough to make it fun for him, not only that, but it was a shinigami! The taste of their reiatsu...

He hissed and ducked under the retaliatory swing of his opponent before thrusting Zangetsu forward at the shinigami's chest.

The man side stepped the blow, but he was caught completely unprepared for what Ichigo followed it up with.

The Adjuchas flipped Zangetsu around in his hand, so the blade of the zanpakutō was facing the shinigami.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

Ichigo watched as the man's eyes widened behind the hollow mask, proof that it wasn't truly attached to his face, as the blazing blue spirit energy of Getsuga Tenshō consumed him.

He clacked his claws together in anticipation. Shinigami had always been his favorite, even after all this time he'd spent solely living off of hollow reiatsu.

The man was down and he'd likely be dead in a minute or two from the severity of his wounds, so Ichigo took his time in walking up to him.

He growled as he closed in on the man and sent a pulse of reiatsu down Zangetsu's length to clean it of the blood.

The shinigami was struggling to rise, it was obviously a battle the man couldn't win.

Ichigo let out a feral huff and decided against his initial choice to approach the man slowly. He jumped the rest of the distance and grabbed the downed figure by his hair.

The Adjuchas ruthlessly pulled his prey up with his grip, simultaneously causing the shinigami to drop his zanpakutō and fade into unconsciousness from the added pain of the action.

Ichigo wasted no time in sinking his teeth into the man's shoulder and started to absorb the delicious reiatsu.

This shinigami's spiritual power was more powerful than most of the Adjuchas Ichigo had killed, he knew that much immediately.

His excitement increased. This was the kill that would push him over the edge, this was the one that would allow him to ascend to the level of a Vasto Lorde! He knew it!

His vision suddenly faded to a blinding white color that he knew he'd seen once before. He opened his jaws and howled victoriously. No sound came out, just like last time, but he continued to howl mutely nonetheless.

He'd done it! He'd finally accomplished his goal!

His howling gave way to ecstatic laughter as he felt his body changing, just as it had last time. His tail grew spikes that covered the blood red tip and his feet developed into a more human shape, rather than the talon like appearance they'd formerly taken on.

Blood red skin replaced the white skin on his thighs and midsection, meeting the white skin in a flaming pattern on both ends. His claws molded themselves into a more human shape, though his fingernails stayed extremely sharp to the touch and slightly longer than normal. The hollow hole in his stomach convulsed and grew a little larger. Finally, his orange hair lengthened behind the mask, growing down to just past his shoulders.

The only change Ichigo noticed though, was the power he felt running through his veins and the very noticeable absence of voices in his head.

He'd done it!

He was a Vasto Lorde.

* * *

Sōsuke Aizen sat quietly at his desk in the fifth division, contemplating the recent events and measures he'd taken to assure his plan would be successful.

Central 46 was no more, and so when he, Gin and Tōsen left, Soul Society would be very unlikely to make an organized effort to stop them. Without a ruling body to organize the actions of the Gotei 13, escaping would be a very easy task.

And then, of course, there was his little admirer. Hinamori Momo.

After word got out of his betrayal, she would doubtlessly deny any accusation made against him in her presence and maybe even fall into a depression. She would neglect her duties to the fifth squad and likely finish the destruction of it that he would start with his betrayal. As if that wasn't enough, the fifth squad's turmoil would effect the entirety of Soul Society due to the fact that it handled almost all communication in the Seireitei.

The brown haired man smiled to himself. All that was left to be done now was wait. Wait for Kurosaki Ichigo to reach the level of Vasto Lorde so that his hollow powers would be the dominant source of reiatsu in his body.

It was then that Aizen would use the hōgyoku on him, because it would recognize him as a hollow and attempt to give him the powers of a shinigami, a process known as shinigamification. Kurosaki already had natural shinigami powers though, so he believed that the hōgyoku would end up creating an entirely new set of shinigami abilties as well as a new zanpakutō for Ichigo, all based off of his hollow reiatsu.

And if it all worked out, then Aizen would be left with his Primera Espada.

He looked up upon hearing the door to his office slide open, immediately recognizing Gin's figure looking down at him.

"Aizen-sama, it's happened."

A grin slowly spread across his face.

"Well, let's not keep our young friend waiting, hmm?"

* * *

**A/N: **I changed the way hollows evolve into a Gillian class a bit, instead of being formed from a group of hollows that fought amongst each other, I decided to change it to whenever a group of hollows gathered with a dominant one in their presence, a Gillian would be created.

Thanks for the reviewer who pointed out my mistake of writing reiatsu as rejatsu, I guess I'm a little too used to seeing in spelled with a j.

The whole shinigami powers thing will be explained in greater detail in one of the next couple chapters, as well as just how Aizen plans to use the hōgyoku.

In other news, the next Naruto chapter's almost done. Having a bit of trouble with some of the parts though, so I decided to write this out in the mean time.

As always, any opinions and suggestions are appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own any of the characters or ideas used in this story, Bleach isn't mine.

**This chapter assumes basic knowledge about the anime Bleach.**

A Hollowed Existence

Kurosaki Ichigo yawned in boredom as he looked out over the vast deserts of Hueco Mundo.

It was his second day as a Vasto Lorde and he'd already destroyed over five hundred of his fellow hollows. Now that he was confident in his skills and rather bored of the pitiful challenge killing Adjuchas offered him though, he'd decided to do some exploring. The dry deserts of Hueco Mundo's surface were his first destination.

They were endless and covered in white sand. The dead tips of the trees below the surface poked through the ground every so often and he'd seen an occasional rock every few minutes, but other than that...

There was absolutely nothing interesting to see or experience.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

He glanced down from his perch on a particularly large boulder to find three shinigami looking up at him.

One of his eyebrows arched up in curiosity. "It's a rare site in this world, to see a shinigami. To see three together, all at once, is nothing short of a miracle."

Ichigo jumped down from his position to land in front of the trio and, upon observing them more closely, he found that he recognized one of them.

His brow furrowed. "I believe I know you, Ichimaru Gin."

The white haired man grinned wide enough to expose his teeth. "Glad ta see ya remember lil' ol' me."

"Ichigo-san," Aizen spoke, gaining the Vasto Lorde's attention, "my associates and I came here to ask a favor of you and then make you an offer that I believe you'll find very hard to refuse."

"Oh?" he responded, idly wondering how they knew his name.

Aizen nodded. "Do you recall the night you were turned into a hollow?"

Ichigo gave him a jerky nod back. He wasn't proud of those days, when he existed as nothing more than a mindless killer, but he remembered them nonetheless.

"I see," the former fifth captain said. "So you likely remember that you killed and absorbed the reiatsu of a shinigami that night as well?"

The Vasto Lorde nodded absentmindedly, his eyes somewhat distant as memories came back to him.

"And what would you do if I told you that when you took in her reiatsu, you absorbed something else into you as well?"

Ichigo looked up and snorted. "I'd ask you what the hell it was."

Aizen smiled a disarming smile. "Have you ever heard of an object called the hōgyoku?"

The blank look he received was all the answer the brown haired shinigami needed.

"Perhaps I can explain while we make our way to my fortress? I promise I can make it worth your patience."

"What fort-" Ichigo started, but cut himself off when he turned to find an entire fortress on the horizon that definitely wasn't there before. It was massive, to say the very least, and completely white in color with numerous towers that stood tall over the vast desert. A decent sized wall surrounded the entire thing and in the center was what looked like a massive dome shaped building.

"How?"

"Kidō can do miraculous things, Ichigo-san. Now, will you allow me to explain my offer and what it entails on the way to Las Noches?"

The Vasto Lorde nodded silently and, when Aizen turned and started walking toward the fortress, he followed a step behind the shinigami.

"The hōgyoku is an item of unimaginable power, Ichigo-san. It was created by a former captain of Soul Society – You are aware of what Soul Society is, correct?"

He nodded. "The place where shinigami and all the other cleansed souls reside."

"Yes. The shinigami forces there are divided into thirteen squads, each of which is led by a captain and a vice-captain. Now you see, the former captain of squad twelve was an ingenious man that made many advancements in the technology shinigami use every day.

For example, the cell phone-like objects that they use to communicate are one of many items he can claim responsibility for."

Aizen turned his head just far enough to look at Ichigo out of the corner of his eye. "His name is Urahara Kisuke."

A pause.

"Urahara Kisuke made an object that had the ability to give shinigami hollow powers and hollows shinigami powers around a century ago. Unfortunately, before I could secure it the man hid it away inside the soul of a shinigami. I did not know the identity of that shinigami until just recently."

He turned his head toward Ichigo again. "Any guess as to who that shinigami was?"

The hollow grunted. "The one I killed that night about two months ago."

"Correct. Now the hōgyoku resides inside you and I need to obtain it."

"So," Ichigo started, "you want to reach inside me and get a tiny little gem that can give shinigami hollow powers and hollows shinigami powers so you can use it in whatever you're plotting."

Aizen smiled. "Exactly."

"And what's in it for me?"

"If you allow me to remove the hōgyoku from you, then I plan to use it on you in return and grant you power beyond anything you could've imagined."

Ichigo arched an eyebrow. "Really? I've already got the powers of a shinigami and a hollow, so I don't see how that little trinket will make me any stronger than I already am."

A grin stretched across the brown haired shinigami's face. "This is where it gets technical, Ichigo-san. You see, since you do indeed possess both the powers of a shinigami and a hollow, the hōgyoku will act based upon which one is dominant in you. Right now, your hollow powers are the dominant force behind your strength."

"So it'd give me shinigami powers... how the hell would those be any different than the ones I already have?"

Aizen nodded. "A logical question, but the powers of the hōgyoku cannot create true hollow abilities in a shinigami or true shinigami abilities in a hollow. The powers it creates are faux, formed from the reiatsu already running through your body, so you would be left with an additional set of shinigami powers that have been based on the qualities of your hollow reiatsu."

"A second set of shinigami powers..."

"Now you're starting to grasp just how powerful you would become," Aizen drawled, his smile still firmly in place on his face.

"Why would you grant me that power? You must have some use for me if you would go that far to make me more powerful."

"Intelligent and strong, you'll make a perfect Primera Espada."

Before Ichigo could question him, Aizen continued.

"You see, Ichigo-san, I plan to create an army of hybrids; an army of Arrancar. You would be the Primera in that army, the most powerful hybrid in my forces."

"And this...Espada? What is that?"

"The Espada will be the ten strongest hybrids in my army, ranked starting with the number zero to the number nine, but let's keep that bit of information quiet, shall we?"

Ichigo fell silent, contemplating everything he'd just been told. He was being offered power, unimaginable power on top of his already intimidating strength. All he would have to do was follow the orders of this shinigami.

The Vasto Lorde abruptly lashed out at Aizen, his arm nothing more than a blur in its attempt to land a back hand on the man.

The shinigami caught the attack before it touched him though, his associates didn't even react to it.

"A test of strength," Aizen had said. "A hollow will never willingly submit itself to someone weaker than it."

Ichigo nodded.

"I'll do it."

* * *

"The hōgyoku," Aizen muttered as he held the thing up in the air for inspection. The tiny purple gem-like object glinted merrily in the light of the central chamber of Las Noches, deceptively appearing harmless.

"Are you ready," the shinigami spoke, Ichimaru Gin and Tōsen Kaname standing silently behind him, "Ichigo-san?"

The Vasto Lorde nodded and watched as Aizen focused his reiatsu on the tiny gem. Soon, the center of it began glowing brightly and minuscule stands of what appeared to be reiatsu formed and darted outwards toward Ichigo.

He didn't flinch as the reiatsu appendages came into contact with his heavily armored skin and burrowed beneath it with an ease that amazed Ichigo.

Abruptly, he felt its presence in his mind. It was overwhelming, the power that the tiny gem contained, and he knew if he spent any more than a few minutes with its presence in his mind, he would be driven to insanity.

He stayed silent though, his eyes focusing and defocussing on absolutely nothing at all while he fought with the entirety of his will power to stay on his feet.

When the hōgyoku didn't release his mind from its influence after a minute or two that seemed like a time ten times as long to Ichigo, he began to panic. He felt his reiatsu start to fluctuate wildly, completely out of his control, and his knees buckled.

Just when the Vasto Lorde thought he'd be overwhelmed completely by the powerful gem, its presence vanished from his mind.

He gasped and blinked several times in an attempt to get his vision back into focus, belatedly realizing he was on his hands and knees and completely naked. His position or state of dress didn't concern him though.

The power he felt did.

He'd thought that Vasto Lorde was as strong as he'd ever be able to get, but he had been proven wrong. It was almost a bad joke at this point, every time he'd thought he felt as strong as he ever would, he was proven wrong.

His body had changed again, taking the exact shape of what it used to be when he was a human, the only difference was that his muscle mass had increased quite a bit, likely from all the physical activity he'd been doing over the past two months. He had a jaw-like fragment of hollow bone that bore a striking resemblance to what his teeth used to look like when he was an Adjuchas and a Vasto Lorde, it rested under his bottom lip and stretched across his chin, wicked black teeth were etched into the otherwise pure white surface. His hollow hole was still located around where his stomach should've been.

The sound of a blade clattering loudly to the ground at his side drew his attention.

A blade that looked to be the exact same size and shape as Zangetsu lay next to his left hand. The colors of the metal in the blade were opposite that of Zangetsu, but otherwise it was a perfect twin.

He reached up somewhat numbly to make sure that Zangetsu was still present on his back and found, much to his relief, that it had managed to stay in its usual resting place without its vine restraints.

Ichigo removed the blade from his back with his right hand and stabbed it into the ground in front of him. He repeated the process somewhat awkwardly with his newest blade – his left hand had never been as strong as his right – before rising to take a knee in front of Aizen.

He bowed his head. "Aizen-sama."

"Welcome, Kurosaki Ichigo, Primera Espada, Aspect of Gluttony, to my army."

* * *

Two days later saw Ichigo searching the forests of Hueco Mundo just as he'd done for the past two months, though this time it wasn't a search for his next meal. It was a search for the Vasto Lorde Starrk and Barragan.

As soon as Aizen had heard of his somewhat limited interaction with Starrk and Barragan, he'd immediately sent him to them to see if they were interested in his offer of power.

Ichigo grinned. He was allowed to 'show off a little' to firmly convince the two Vasto Lorde to join Aizen.

He flashed into existence on a tree branch, the static sound of sonido being the only warning of his arrival, and extended his senses out in an attempt to locate Starrk or Barragan.

Ichigo's appearance had changed drastically from that of his Vasto Lorde form. A large gothic number one was tattooed onto his right cheek, just under his eye. He wore the standard white pants of the arrancar held up by a black slash around his waist. His abs and forearms were wrapped in white bandages for extra support – he'd made sure the bandages completely covered his hollow hole - and over his torso he wore a sleeveless vest.

On his back, Zangetsu resided in a harness made of reiatsu tempered leather, much stronger than the vines he'd used before. His newer, unnamed zanpakutō, Zangetsu's twin in all but color, resided too on his back, criss-crossing with Zangetsu around his waist.

He hadn't just changed physically though. Ever since he'd become an arrancar Ichigo was easily able to sense a drastic change in the way his reiatsu felt and he was sure it wasn't because he'd gained fake shinigami powers. It felt darker now, his reiatsu, more sinister.

Ichigo shook off his thoughts and grinned in triumph a few moments later when he sensed the unmistakable feeling of Starrk's reiatsu on the edge of his senses accompanied, much to his luck, by Barragan's.

He wasted no time in using sonido to travel the distance between him and his targets in less than thirty seconds.

When the Primera Espada arrived at the edge of the clearing where Starrk and Barragan were fighting he quickly took note of three Adjuchas corpses on the ground, as well as the fact that both fighters seemed winded.

Ichigo flashed into existance between the two of them carelessly, stopping the chain of cero Starrk fired with his bare hand and catching Barragan's razor sharp claws in the other.

"Stop fighting and listen to what I have to say."

Starrk's eyes narrowed in surprise. "...Kid? You ain't so childish anymore..."

Ichigo grinned at him, ignoring Barragan's angry exclamations that he was interrupting their fight.

"I believe you yourself admitted that I was growing at a rapid rate," he paused and gestured to himself. "This is the result."

"You aren't a hollow anymore," Starrk observed.

Ichigo's grin widened as he squeezed Barragan's hand painfully to make the Vasto Lorde be quiet long enough for him to get interested in what Aizen had to offer.

"You're right, I'm not entirely a hollow anymore. I'm something better, something stronger than even a Vasto Lorde."

He paused to make sure that Barragan was listening. He knew Starrk would, the man utterly hated to do anything that required any amount of energy, so a break in fighting would be something he would appreciate.

"I am an arrancar."

"Arrancar?" Barragan questioned gruffly.

Ichigo nodded and spoke slowly, a smirk entirely too reminiscent of Aizen's at home on his lips. "An arrancar. A fusion of the shinigami and the hollow, a hybrid with massive amounts of power under his control."

Barragan's eyes narrowed. "How?"

"Follow me, and I'll tell you."

The short Vasto Lorde nodded without any second thoughts, the allure of the power displayed in front of him too great to ignore. One cannot simply throw themselves in between two Vasto Lorde and stop their attacks receiving nary a scratch without having a tremendous amount of power at their finger tips.

Ichigo turned to Starrk. "I hope you'll come along as well, I think you'll find my superior's offer very tempting."

"Will it get me outta this damned forest and into somewhere quiet, preferably where I can sleep for more than twelve hours a day?"

The Primera nodded, the edges of his lips slightly quirked up.

"Alright then, lead away kid."

Ichigo nodded again. "Grab onto my forearms, it'll be faster that way and far easier."

Once both Barragan and Starrk had a firm hold on his arms, he used sonido to flash them up to the desert sands.

Both of them looked understandably startled.

"Sonido," Ichigo started speaking as he began making his way toward Las Noches, "is an ability that only arrancar can use. It allows the user to move nearly instantaneously, completely invisible to the naked eye, from one point to another."

He knew he had Barragan's full attention at that point and he was fairly certain that Starrk was listening as well, though he could never tell with the brown haired Vasto Lorde. He might've stopped listening when he found out he'd be able to be as lazy as he wanted if he came with Ichigo.

"An arrancar, as I said before, is a hybrid. We are a fusion between the shinigami and the hollow that is made possible by a special trinket my superior, Aizen-sama, has in his possession. Technically, you can become an arrancar naturally by tearing off your mask, but the results will always be weaker than what the hōgyoku can produce. When the two of you undergo shinigamification, you will become arrancar and gain power beyond what you ever dreamed you were capable of having."

He paused.

"The only thing my superior asks in return, is your loyalty to his cause."

"And his cause is?" Starrk spoke up from Ichigo's left.

"He is creating an army of arrancar," the Primera responded. "But I'll leave it to him to go into more detail on that matter.

Our destination," Ichigo continued after another pause, "is Las Noches. You can see it now up ahead, just over the horizon."

Suddenly, a rumbling was heard and the sand started to shift in unnatural ways.

Ichigo hid his grin. This must be the sacrifice Aizen had said he'd send so he could show them just what an arrancar could do.

A worm-like hollow burst out of the ground, howling at the trio walking on its sands.

The Primera silently raised his hand to his mouth after waving off the two Vasto Lorde. He'd take care of the annoyance.

He bit the skin on the edge of his thumb, causing blood to immediately start flowing out of the wound, and held his hand up at the hollow.

"Gran Rey Cero."

A blast of raw spiritual energy burst out of his palm and rocketed towards the hollow at a speed that was impossible for it to dodge.

It never stood a chance, the only sign it ever existed was where the sand had been melted into glass and the sand particles that had been kicked up by the force of the searing attack.

Ichigo silently turned back towards Las Noches.

"Come, Aizen-sama awaits us."

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo idly scratched at the number one on his cheek as he walked down one of the many hallways in Las Noches, the weight of both his zanpakutō resting comfortably on his back.

It'd been nearly two months since he'd first joined Aizen and his army was just now nearing completion. The ten Espada had been assembled, Starrk, Barragan, Neliel, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Zommari, Szayel, Aaroniero and Yammy had publicly taken up the numbers two through ten, respectively. Aizen was now at work choosing the hollows he would change into arrancar to serve as the Numeros, a small but powerful force of arrancar that were all supposed to be around the level that an average shinigami captain was capable of fighting at.

Ichigo himself, like the other Espada, had kept busy whenever he wasn't executing Aizen's will by further training his shinigami powers. He'd briefly explored Kidō and its merits with Ichimaru Gin, but after learning a few of the basic spells, he decided against studying it further. Instead, he focused all his efforts on achieving Bankai, the second released state that all shinigami zanpakutō were capable of.

To be honest, he had no idea where to start on that. He never really considered himself a shinigami and he hadn't been able to initiate a conversation with Zangetsu since he'd become an arrancar.

He shrugged to himself, he'd get it in time, one way or another.

Ichigo turned down another hallway and walked to the end of it, emerging in a large hall that had an extravagant door at the end of it. He wasted no time in making his way to the door and pushing it open, finding that all of his fellow Espada were already sitting around a table, waiting for the meeting to start.

The Primera walked into the room silently and took his seat on Aizen's right.

His superior shot him a smile and stood up to address the gathered arrancar.

"Brothers and sisters, I cannot tell you how pleased I am to see the work we've all put forth finally coming to fruition. Hollows of all levels are flocking to Las Noches in droves, seeking the power that can be granted by becoming an arrancar."

He paused. "But, unfortunately for them, they are not all worthy of becoming part of my army. So, in an attempt to find those that are strong enough to become arrancar, I've had several large pits made in the surrounding deserts outside Las Noches. The hollows are there, fighting to the death to see who will get to ascend to the ranks of the arrancar."

He stopped speaking to smile at the room. "You must be wondering why I'm informing you of this.

I'm telling you this because I've decided to give the ten of you the option to pick any number of personal subordinates from the candidates that are fighting in the pits. They will answer only to you or one of higher rank and act as your servants and guards whenever you are sent on a mission. They will be your fraccion, and you their superior."

Aizen smiled his disarming smile again. "Of course, this is completely optional. You do not need to take any fraccion but if you do, I ask that you bring them back to the entrance hall so that I can put them through their transformations and begin filling the ranks of my Numeros."

* * *

Ichigo stood at the edge of one of the three pits Aizen had thrown all the newcomers into, watching intently as the hollows destroyed each other in hopes of becoming an arrancar.

While his superior's method was definitely brutal – he watched as an Adjuchas literally tore another's head off its body and quickly consumed its opponent's reiatsu before turning back to the fight, only to get cut down effortlessly by a stronger foe – it was also very efficient. Only the hollows strong enough to survive against its brethren would go on to become arrancar and death was certainly a good motivator to make them fight with all their strength.

Ichigo sighed and looked away, towards his fellow Espada as they stood around the pits, observing the happenings below them. Some of them had already chosen fraccion. Barragan had a good sized group built up of what he thought were the strongest hollow standing behind him, waiting for their future superior to finish choosing his subordinates. Starrk had simply made Lilinette his fraccion, the girl had strangely appeared next to him when he ascended to the ranks of the arrancar and had stuck by him since then... it really wasn't much of a change, it just gave her an official title, really.

Grimmjow and Szayel had, just like Barragan, gone for the strongest hollows they could find. Currently they each had about a half dozen waiting obediently behind them. Ulquiorra, Zommari, Aaroniero and Yammy hadn't even shown up at the pits so Ichigo figured it was a safe assumption that the four Espada had no plans to take fraccion.

His eyes trailed back towards Las Noches, just making out the forms of Neliel and the two hollows she'd chosen as her fraccion before they disappeared inside the great hall.

She was a strange one, Nel tu Oderschvank, Ichigo would openly admit that. She was the only female Espada and almost seemed to be a complete pacifist. That didn't mean he thought she was weak though... no, he thought quite the opposite.

Nel was the only Espada that he saw observing the hollows for something other than brute strength. She was looking for intelligence and cunning and had chosen her fraccion when she'd seen them both beat stronger opponents by using the tight confines of the pits and their smaller sizes to their advantage.

Ichigo frowned, shaken from his thoughts by a particularly loud roar from an over-sized hollow that bore a striking resemblance to a mammoth. Its fellows were giving it a wide berth and some even cowered away from it when it approached.

Barragan quickly used sonido to appear in front of the hollow, apparently enjoying the hush that had suddenly spread throughout the pit with his appearance.

"I have chosen you to become one of my fraccion, hollow. Come with me."

The Primera watched silently, an amused smirk on his face, as Barragan led the newest of his fraccion up to join the others he'd already chosen. The prideful arrancar already had four others, the mammoth-like hollow being the fifth addition, and Ichigo didn't think that the Tercera would stop there.

The orange haired arrancar sighed and turned away from the first pit he'd visited, walking calmly toward the second of the three battle zones.

His eyebrows rose in surprise though, when he felt his first zanpakutō's presence in his mind again, something he hadn't felt for quite some time. After having quickly schooled his features into an uncaring look again, Ichigo struck up a conversation.

"Was I ever this bad, Zangetsu?"

"**No."**

Ichigo chuckled under his breath. "That's a r-"

"**You were worse."**

His eye twitched and he responded in a mutter, his voice clearly expressing his annoyance. "Worse than those hollows in the pit, as mindless as they are? At least I could reason out the difference between what was fun to do and what was necessary."

"**You could, but you didn't. You allowed your instincts to guide your actions, instead of using the part of yourself that was able to think rationally. You turned away from me and used only my power to satisfy your desire. Only recently have you made any effort at all to become better than the monster you'd become."**

"I was in a difficult position," Ichigo pointed out more seriously, somewhat bewildered. This must've been something that had bothered Zangetsu for some time now, if he was that bitter. "I had two different thought processes clashing in my head. The one that produced the easier way to ridding myself of my hunger won out."

"**I am well aware of what happened, Ichigo. Do not forget that your soul is not the only being inhabiting your body. But that fact does not change what happened."**

The Primera paused on his way to the second pit, a scowl now on his face.

"I was a hollow at the time," he spat. "I still _am_ a hollow, Zangetsu."

"**You were never a hollow, Ichigo. The differences were small and hard to spot, but there nonetheless. You were never truly one of the mindless hollows that dwelt in that forest, but you chose to become one anyway."**

When it became apparent that the orange haired arrancar would not answer, Zangetsu continued.

"**Your decision to give in to your urges has affected you in more ways than you could possibly know. At this rate, I fear I'll never be able to see a cloudless day again."**

With that, the Primera was left stewing in confusion and anger. Zangetsu spoke to him riddles and the only part of the conversation he could truly understand was that the soul of his first zanpakutō wasn't happy with the decisions he'd made.

"Could this be why my reiatsu..."

He shook his head and forced his body to continue towards the second pit. He was here for a reason, he'd think more on what Zangetsu had told him when he had a clear head. His choice solidified, he focused his thoughts back on the task at hand.

He wasn't really sure whether or not he'd end up taking a hollow as his fraccion, but figured it was a good idea to come observe the possible candidates anyway, to see if any of them caught his eye.

So far, none had, despite the fact that they fought harder with the knowledge that _the _Primera, the hollow whose progress was renowned throughout Hueco Mundo as simply astounding, was watching.

"Finally decided to move huh Primera?" Grimmjow called out from his position across the second pit, the one Ichigo had just arrived at.

He ignored his fellow Espada in favor of looking down upon the hollows in the pit. At first glance, it was the exact same sight as the one he'd just come from, the only difference being that it was filled with different hollows fighting each other. The fighters made temporary allies to overwhelm a more powerful foe and then turned on those allies without second thought. They attacked when hollows had their backs turned to them or when they were preoccupied with another fight.

Ichigo snorted. It was just mindless slaughter, something he could already do quite well himself, when he wanted to.

He watched silently as one of the hollows, clearly stronger than the rest, threw a punch at one of its opponents that actually managed to take the thing's head cleanly off its body.

A grimace stretched across the Primera's face. The thing was ugly as hell and relied solely on brute strength. While it was indeed stronger than the average contender in the pits... it just didn't catch Ichigo's interest.

He grunted in irritation and moved away from the second pit, idly noting that Barragan had just gone down to recruit the very hollow he'd been observing.

The third pit had no Espada standing around the outside, probably due to the fact that the hollows were thrown in the holes according to their strength. As a general rule the first pit contained the strongest hollows, the second held hollows that were stronger than average and the third held only hollows that were barely average in strength.

"You won't find anything over there, Primera. Those hollows are all weak as shit!" Grimmjow made himself known again as he watched the orange haired Espada walk calmly to the last of the pits.

Ichigo ignored him again as he came to a stop at the edge of the pit. Just as he'd expected, a hush spread over the hollows in it as they realized an Espada was watching them. When they realized it was the Primera himself, they redoubled their efforts with loud battle cries in the form of howls and roars.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets as his eyes scanned the ranks of hollows fighting each other.

The combat in this pit was noticeably less fierce, likely due to the fact that the hollows in it weren't capable of as much as the ones in the first and second pits were, but it appeared to be the same mindless struggle that Ichigo had seen twice already.

"_**-mindless hollows-"**_

The Primera scowled and moved to turn away in frustration, but a rather peculiar sight managed to catch his eye before he did.

Three hollows were standing back to back, having apparently formed an alliance of sorts to stay alive in the pit.

Ichigo had seen many other hollows do the same thing, but something set this trio apart...

No matter how many hollows they killed, they didn't turn on each other.

One of them, a monkey-like hollow with redish fur that had a white mask covering its face and hooves for feet, lashed out at the hollow closest to it, but in doing so left itself open to another hollow on its side.

Before the hollow could act on the opening though, it was forced back by another one of the trio, a snake-like hollow with three pink dots on its mask-covered face. It quickly lashed out with its tail and managed to catch one of the thing's legs.

The final member of the trio, a hollow that took the rough form of a lioness, jumped at the one that had been forced back by the snake, quickly tearing into it while it was off balance and bringing the spoils back to its fellow hollows.

Ichigo watched, his stare now intently focused on the three hollows as they split the carcass of the hollow the lioness had killed and then quickly turned back to the battle around them.

"_**-never truly one of the mindless hollows-"**_

The three of them were obviously weaker than the average hollow in the third pit when they were alone... but when they worked together...

The Primera crouched down on the balls of his feet, Zangetsu's words ringing in his head, and swallowed as he continued his observation of the trio through narrowed eyes.

They actually worked together. Truly worked together to overcome stronger foes... it wasn't some tentative alliance that would end as soon as the threat had been taken care of... it actually looked to be genuine. That was extremely rare amongst hollows of all kinds, excluding the arrancar. It almost seemed like they actually_ trusted_ one another...

A giant bull-like hollow charged at the trio that held Ichigo's interest and he watched as they all started to charge a cero. The monkey's was formed on the curved horn that resided in the middle of its mask, the lioness' in its mouth and the snake's at the tip of its tail.

As one, the trio released their cero at the charging bull, downing the dull-minded thing instantly in a white-hot ball of reiatsu.

Ichigo nodded to himself, they'd require some work, but they definitely had potential. The three hollows had immediately moved to guard their kill and started to take turns consuming the reiatsu of it. Unfortunately for them though, the take down of such a large opponent had earned them the attention of the majority of the other hollows in the pit.

The static sound of sonido was lost on the fighters, the sounds of combat completely drowning it out.

The Primera slowly started walking toward the trio that was now fiercely defending their kill. He could easily tell that they were starting to tire, the constant mobbing by the other hollows slowly wearing them down.

A hush spread over the nearby hollows as they realized just who was in their presence. They fell over each other as they tried to scramble away from him, their previous fighting completely forgotten.

He _did _cut an intimidating figure, Ichigo mused. Especially with the two massive cleavers that hung on his back and the muscles he'd developed from wielding them.

The rest of the hollows had taken notice of his presence now. The pit was completely silent as they all watched him walk toward the massive corpse of the bull-like hollow.

The three hollows he was interested in cowered away from him together as he drew closer, retreating backwards in unison in an attempt to avoid his notice.

He would have none of it.

Ichigo's figure blurred and vanished, reappearing behind the trio of hollows without the slightest sound of static.

He'd only used the speed his body was capable of in this form, after all.

The monkey tripped over its own hooved feet when it realized he was behind it and tumbled to the ground, the lioness immediately flopped down onto its back as a show of submission and the snake coiled in on itself in an attempt to become smaller.

"I've taken an interest in you," he said, unaware of whether or not they were powerful enough Adjuchas to understand speech. "If you wish to get out of this hellish pit, then you'll follow me."

Ichigo crouched down on the balls of his feet and held out a hand, palm facing upward, between the three hollows.

"We're alike, the four of us, but where I chose a darker path, you chose one lighter."

Silence followed his words, a startling contrast from the previous sounds of hollows tearing each other apart.

Regardless of whether or not the trio could understand speech, the offer was clear. Come with him to get out of the pit, or stay in it until they died.

The lioness reacted first, cautiously rolling back onto its feet and tentatively placing a paw on his forearm.

The snake and the monkey looked alarmed at first, like they would killed for touching him – Ichigo wouldn't put it past Barragan to do something like that if one of the hollows had actually touched him – but calmed when the lioness remained intact.

The snake let out a quiet hiss and uncoiled enough to lay its head on the Primera's forearm.

After seeing both its companions make their decisions, the monkey was left with no choice. It would surely die if it was left alone in the pit, so it placed one of its hands on Ichigo's arm as well.

Their skin was cold, deathly cold, Ichigo noted as he used sonido without warning to transport him and the hollows he'd chosen to the surface. He never noticed – or cared, for that matter – if his skin was abnormally cold when he was an Adjuchas; maybe it was something unique to the trio he'd picked out.

He shook his head. He was putting far too much thought into something that wasn't worth thinking about.

The orange haired arrancar lifted his gaze up as he stood and proceeded to take in his surroundings.

Barragan, the Primera noted, had left. Apparently he had finally been satisfied with the subordinates he'd picked out. Grimmjow and Szayel were still there though, the latter of which had at least ten hollows waiting patiently behind him.

Ichigo turned towards Las Noches without a word, beckoning for the trio behind him to follow. They did so without any complaints, eying their new surroundings warily.

The walk back to the palace was short and went without incident. The hollows had huddled together unconsciously, likely still in awe that they were following after _the _Primera as he led them towards Las Noches.

They may not have been powerful enough to understand and use speech, but the basic idea of the situation was clear to them.

They'd been selected out of hundreds of hollows, by the Primera, to follow after him.

Ichigo reached Las Noches completely oblivious to the limited thoughts of his future fraccion. He pushed open the massive doors that acted as the main entrance effortlessly and continued inside without pause. His traditional black arrancar sandals tapped crisply against the floor as he casually strode further down the great hall that the main doors led to.

He could see Aizen relaxing at one of the tables off to the side of room, talking in quiet tones with Ichimaru Gin and Tōsen Kaname. Barragan was sitting at another table on the opposite side of the room, two arrancar sitting on either side of him that could only be some of his fraccion. Ulquiorra and Zommari were also present, though they were standing off to the sides of the room, merely watching the activities of those present in the hall.

"Hah!"

Ichigo turned to find Barragan staring at him, a rare grin on the ancient arrancar's face.

"The spiritual presence those three are emitting is barely enough to be considered above a meager human's level. Are you sure you don't want to reconsider your choice, Primera?"

Ichigo ignored him and shot the monkey a look when it bristled in indignation. It understood the fact that Barragan was laughing at it and reacted with anger. That anger quickly died out when it realized its future superior was staring at it though.

"Come now Barragan, our Primera must have made his decision for a reason. Please respect it just as we have respected yours'."

The Tercera grunted but fell silent anyway, leaving Aizen to address Ichigo without any interruptions.

"I trust you found plenty of worthy candidates to choose from?"

The Primera snorted and shook his head. "These three," he said as he jerked his thumb in the trio's direction, "were the only hollows I saw that are capable of doing something other than mindlessly slaughtering everything in their sight. Had I not come across them, I wouldn't have taken any fraccion."

"Is that so?" Aizen said, leaving those present in the room unsure of whether it was a real question or not. He continued before anyone could attempt answer him.

"Well, then I'm pleased that you came across them. Are they able to speak?"

Ichigo shook his head, much to the amusement of Barragan.

"Then I suppose we'll just have to learn their names after their transformations," the brown haired shinigami said as he stepped toward the first of Ichigo's future fraccion, the lioness.

It growled instinctively but, when the snake hit one of its hind legs with its tail, quickly caught its mistake and dropped its head.

Aizen looked amused. "What a colorful bunch of hollows you've found here, Ichigo."

The room quieted slightly upon hearing the Primera's name. No one in Las Noches knew what it was, save for the three shinigami who acted as leaders and Ichigo himself. Now though, every single arrancar in Las Noches would likely know the orange haired Espada's name within a few hours.

The consequences of his action went ignored by Aizen. He held the hōgyoku out in front of him and focused some of his reiatsu into the tiny gem. It started glowing and tiny strands started to form, just like Ichigo remembered from his own transformation.

The strands wasted no time in attaching themselves to the lioness, who struggled to stay standing but failed after about ten seconds. The hōgyoku quickly withdrew its presence from the hollow at that point, just as the lioness' shape glowed and started to change.

Ichigo watched with interest as a vague humanoid form started to make itself known after the glowing died down. Eventually, a naked woman appeared on her hands and knees where the lioness used to be.

She had dark skin and equally dark hair. The fragments of her hollow mask took on the appearance of a three-pronged crown on the top of her head and a large choker-like necklace that clung to her neck. Her hollow hole was positioned just above her navel and her zanpakutō looked to be slightly longer than normal.

She stood and bowed to Aizen, before facing Ichigo.

"Ichigo-sama. My name is Mila-Rose."

He nodded as he watched her drop down on one knee and bow her head in submission.

"Mila-Rose," the Primera said softly. "Come, wait with me until your fellow fraccion have been transformed, then I will lead the three of you to our wing in Las Noches."

She nodded and moved to stand slightly behind Ichigo, turning to watch as Aizen approached the snake hollow.

The brown haired shinigami channeled reiatsu into the gem and the same strands of energy that had appeared before formed. They pierced the snake's hide and stayed there until it collapsed in a heap on the ground, shortly after, the hollow began glowing.

When the glow receded, another woman was on the floor before Aizen on her hands and knees. She had dark green hair and light skin, the remnants of her hollow mask appeared as a hair clip of sorts on the right side of her head. Three pink dots trailed vertically down below her right eye and her zanpakutō lay at her side in the form of a three pronged sai.

She, like Mila-Rose, bowed to Aizen and then walked toward Ichigo.

"My name is Sun-Sun, Ichigo-sama," the newly transformed arrancar said as she curtsied deeply instead of going down on one knee, as Mila-Rose had done.

He nodded, idly noting that her hollow hole was situated on her tongue, and gestured to where his other fraccion was standing. "Welcome Sun-Sun. Please wait until Aizen-sama has finished transforming your last friend, I will show you to our wing afterwards."

The arrancar nodded and joined Mila-Rose in observing the final ascension of Ichigo's last fraccion.

The glow of hōgyoku's energy was just fading from her, leaving her naked and on her hands and knees in front of Aizen. She had dark blue hair that reached down to her chin in length and her mask fragment sat atop her head as well. It was a thick strip of white hollow bone that trailed down the middle of her head and ended just above her forehead in the shape of a curved horn. Her right eye was a light blue color and her left was amber with a red outline around it.

The only article of clothing on her body was a pair of bracelets that looked like they actually hovered around her wrists.

"_Must be her zanpakutō,"_ Ichigo realized as he watched her bow to Aizen and then turn towards him.

"I'm Apache," she said shortly, but soon caught herself and quickly bowed to him.

"Ichigo-sama," Apache added quickly.

Ichigo, an amused smile on his face, turned towards Aizen.

"I will retire for the night now, Aizen-sama, unless you've something you require of me."

The shinigami made a dismissive gesture. "By all means rest, Ichigo. Time is on our side in this war."

Ichigo nodded and promptly started towards one of the doors on the side of the hall, knowing without looking that his fraccion were following behind him.

"Ichigo-sama," Apache said as she padded behind him. "Why is it that you have two zanpakutō?"

Ichigo turned his head so that he glance at her face out of the corner of his eye. Her expression was one of open curiosity, genuinely interested in any answer he might give her.

He nodded as he looked forward once again, absentmindedly turning down a hallway as he answered.

"When I was a human about four months ago, I encountered a normal hollow and a shinigami who was trying to cleanse it."

His fraccion grimaced and made quiet sounds of discomfort upon hearing his reference to the soul burials that shinigami are capable of preforming on hollow. He ignored it and continued on.

"The hollow had my sister clenched in its fist and I, in all my wisdom and intelligence, decided to try and save her." He stopped to grin at that particular memory, he used to be so hardheaded...

"Anyway, to make a long story short, the hollow killed me and I ended up pulling my chain of fate off to gain the power to protect those I cared about from the hollow. I was ill-informed of the state of mind I would be in as a hollow though."

He swallowed the lump in his throat that formed when he recalled just what he'd done as a hollow and continued on before well-repressed memories overcame him.

"I ended up consuming the shinigami and the hollow that were fighting but in doing so, I also absorbed something else. Something that was hidden inside the shinigami so that nobody would be able to use its power. The hōgyoku."

He paused and stopped at a point where the hallway split into two paths. Ichigo looked in both directions for a few seconds before he shrugged and went right.

"See, my old man was a shinigami living inside a gigai, so when I absorbed the hōgyoku it started to wake up my dormant shinigami powers."

"You're a shinigami? A real shinigami?" Mila-Rose interrupted, startled but not quite alarmed.

Ichigo nodded. "Horrified?"

"No!" she said quickly, but then closed her eyes and calmed herself. "No," she continued quieter, "I was only surprised. My apologies, Ichigo-sama."

The Primera nodded and continued as he turned another corner. "Eventually, during my time as an Adjuchas, my shinigami zanpakutō managed to make contact with me and, after some time, I learned his name."

The trio following behind him nodded, having all heard the name of Ichigo's first zanpakutō some time ago when they still dwelt in the forests of Hueco Mundo.

"So," he continued as he opened a door on his right and walked inside, "I continued killing and absorbing hollow until I became a Vasto Lorde, at which point, Aizen-sama visited me."

A pause as he held open the door to the darkened room for his three fraccion.

"He removed the hōgyoku from me and convinced me to join him. I agreed and so he used it on me to make me into an arrancar. My hollow powers were stronger and more dominant than my shinigami powers at the time, so it recognized me as a hollow and used my hollow reiatsu to form another zanpakutō," he said, gesturing to the other blade on his back.

"So you've two separate sources of shinigami power, one that you gained through natural means and one formed from your hollow reiatsu."

"Exactly, Sun-Sun," he answered as he found the switch to light the room.

It was an exceedingly large room filled with boxes of all sizes that were stacked up on top of each other. On the sides clothing hung in rows and harnesses for any kind of weapon an arrancar could possess were piled on the floor under them.

Ichigo ignored all of it though and instead headed straight for the back of the room, his fraccion all padding silently along behind him.

"Arrancar sandals," he said as he lifted an arm to point out where the footwear was located. He waited patiently while Mila-Rose, Sun-Sun and Apache all found out what size of shoe they wore.

Once that was done, he continued toward the back of the room.

"There are less female arrancar than there are males, so the clothing you might find more comfortable is placed in the back," the Primera told them as he gestured ahead of him.

"You have as long as you need, take your pick."

* * *

"Come on Apache! Is that the best you can do? You're never gonna prove Barragan wrong at this rate!"

The arrancar growled, falling hopelessly for Ichigo's taunting, and rushed toward the Primera despite Sun-Sun's attempt to calm her.

She swung at Ichigo's head with her chakram-like zanpakutō, watching in irritation as he ducked under them and flowed inside her guard in one smooth movement. One of his fists impacted her gut before she could react and sent her flying back toward her fellow fraccion.

Ichigo watched Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose berate the ever temperamental Apache for her thoughtless charge with a smirk on his face. He'd given them the task of either forcing him to use one of his zanpakutō, something he hadn't done since his time as an Adjuchas, or drawing his blood. Both tasks seemed nearly impossible for the fraccion to complete, mostly due to the fact that he refused to use anything but his current state's full power, but he figured it was good motivation.

His attention was brought back to his fraccion when he felt each of them start to charge a cero.

Sun-Sun's formed in front of the flowing left sleeve that extended a couple feet past her hand, pink in color. Mila-Rose's appeared in front of her mouth, a golden orange color. Finally, Apache's red one shimmered into existence at the tip of the horn on her head.

"Cero."

"Cero!"

"_Cero!"_

Ichigo tracking the whirling mass of color and reiatsu as it neared him with impressive speed, certainly an improvement to what it had been when they first became his fraccion, while simultaneously keeping an eye on each of his three subordinates.

Mila-Rose was dashing toward him behind the combined cero, using the energy as cover. Sun-Sun was currently charging another cero off to his side, a good distance away so that she wouldn't risk hitting Mila-Rose. Apache had used sonido to appear above him, likely an attempt to catch him off guard while he was distracted with her fellow fraccion and the cero.

The Primera raised a hand and caught the cero, immediately redirecting it upwards and forcing Apache to cut off any attack she might've been planning. With that done, he rushed forward to meet Mila-Rose while she was still several yards away from him. He knocked away her startled attempt to stab him and delivered a kick to her side that had her coughing as she tumbled away from him.

By now, Sun-Sun's cero had reached him, so he caught it with one of his hands even as Apache used sonido to appear right in front of him.

Ichigo improvised and quickly threw the pink cero in his hand at her, forcing her to roll to the side to avoid it, while ducking under Sun-Sun's zanpakutō. He went down on his hands and knees and deftly kicked out at his green haired fraccion behind him as Apache came to her feet and immediately rushed at him, hoping to catch him while he was still vulnerable.

He'd give her points for effort, Ichigo figured as he batted away her chakrams and used one of his legs to land a solid blow on the side of her torso.

"You're all improving, but recognize what your enemy can use against you before you try and use it against him. You gave me at least half of the attacks I used against you in that exchange."

It'd been just over a week since the Primera pulled the hollows that were once Apache, Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose out of the pit that would've eventually killed them. In that time, he'd started to spar with them in an effort to improve their strength enough so that they could match the other fraccion single handedly, instead of having to rely on each other for back up. Being able to cooperate and work together to overcome a challenge was a characteristic of his fraccion that he praised them for having, but individual strength was not something he would ignore.

He waited patiently while his three fraccion picked themselves up off the ground, wincing and gasping whenever they put too much weight on a spot that was still tender.

Ichigo nodded. "Come, we're done for the day. Aizen-sama has requested my presence and I do not want to keep him waiting any longer."

So the battered trio followed Ichigo inside until they reached the wing of Las Noches that had been given to them, at which point, they separated. Sun-Sun, Apache and Mila-Rose all returned to their rooms to rest while their Espada made his way to the meeting room.

* * *

"Ah, Ichigo," Aizen said as he stood from his traditional spot at the head of the table to greet the Primera.

"Aizen-sama," Ichigo responded as he inclined his head.

The brown haired shinigami turned and started towards a door near the back of the room.

"Come, I have something to show you."

He nodded and started after Aizen, following the shinigami until they had reached a balcony overlooking the darkened environment of the deserts of Hueco Mundo at night.

"The hōgyoku," started the former captain as the gem itself appeared on a platform in the floor, "is an object that is crucial to my future plans for this war."

He paused long enough to pick up the tiny object, holding it up in front of the full moon that glowed softly over Hueco Mundo.

"But unfortunately, it is deteriorating with every arrancar I create."

He gently placed the hōgyoku back on the pedestal, as if it would shatter if he handled it with anything less than absolute care.

"Obviously, this is not acceptable," he stated as he brushed some hair out of his eyes. "But there is hope, you see... I've heard rumors of a new soul appearing in the districts of the Rukongai, one with special powers that have been observed to have the ability to heal any wound, no matter how serious.

I am interested in this soul and its abilities; I want you to find it for me. You will tell me if the rumors are true and just how potent its abilities are."

Ichigo nodded silently as Aizen paused to gather his thoughts.

"You are allowed to use force to escape if you are recognized, but otherwise try to avoid it. The shinigami likely won't know the meaning of the Espada tattoos just yet, so I believe you'll find it easy to move around unnoticed. If you wish, you may bring your fraccion with you."

The Primera nodded again. "I will, it should prove to be a good experience for them."

"Indeed it should," Aizen smiled. "Take the cloaks I've left on the meeting table with you. They will hide most of your face, including your tattoo, and can be buttoned closed to hide any...features you wish to keep hidden."

* * *

**A/N: **Well, there it is, the third chapter of _A Hollowed Existence_. Hope all of you enjoyed Ichigo's aspect and such. For those of you most interested in my Naruto fic, well, I've hit one helluva road block in my writing for it. I'll keep working at it though, hopefully I can get it up within a week or two.

Now, I want to explain why I wrote Ichigo the way I did and why he is so different from the anime/manga version, different enough to simply be 'that reckless hollow with the luck', as one reviewer put it. This includes why he doesn't seem to feel guilty enough about killing his friends and family.

Right then, as a human Ichigo would definitely be mortified by what he did. He'd probably sink into a depression and maybe even cease living all together. But, luckily for us – and this story – he's not a human. He's a hollow... or was, anyway.

This is probably why some of you don't consider my 'Ichigo' to be Ichigo anymore, and you're right, he's not. He isn't the Ichigo from the anime and manga because that one never became a true hollow, hell, he might as well just be an OC err some shit like that. 'Ichigo' won't be like the original Ichigo until he becomes an arrancar and starts to regain some of his humanity, as you've seen a little of in this chapter.

Why? Because hollows don't experience emotion, and if they do, it usually seems to be centered around rage and anger. In the very rare case that they show some amount of compassion toward _anything, _it's usually when it's mask has been taken off or eventually just outweighed by its maddening hunger anyway.

So yeah, until this chapter my Ichigo wasn't like the Ichigo in the anime or the manga. Do you see my reasons behind writing him the way I did now?

Don't worry though, you saw a little bit of his regret over his actions in this chapter and it'll continue to play a part in the rest of the story as well.

The true number of Vasto Lorde was never really clearly defined. At one point Hitsugaya said that there were only a few known to be in existence and at another he said that if ten gathered under Aizen it would spell the end of Soul Society. The way I understand this is that the shinigami only know of somewhere around three Vasto Lorde, but have recognized that there are more in existence.

The power gain happened over a time period of two months, during which Ichigo relentlessly hunted down hollow after hollow after hollow, efficiently too. It got to the point where he even stood out for how many he killed. I don't think it was too much of a stretch, after all, he managed to achieve Bankai in three days and bested a captain-level shinigami (with a little help from the hollow) only a short time after getting his powers.

With the recent manga chapters, Barragan's past in this is now AU as well.

And finally, if you don't know how Apache is and you're reading this story, please go see the notice I put at the top of the first two chapters. She's been introduced, even killed, in the anime, so I think it's safe to consider her basic knowledge of the Bleach world.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own any of the characters or ideas used in this story, Bleach isn't mine.

**Edit (10/18/09): **Changed rejatsu to reiatsu...can't believe I forgot to do that again.

**This chapter assumes basic knowledge about the anime Bleach.**

A Hollowed Existence

Kurosaki Ichigo quietly made his way into the wing of Las Noches that he and his fraccion lived in, four long brown cloaks slung over his shoulder. One of them was exceedingly large, even compared to the other three, so he assumed it was for himself.

He wasn't exactly small to begin with and when you added in the additional size of both his zanpakutō...well, he could see why Aizen would give him a bigger cloak.

He knew Apache, Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun would likely still be tired from their spar earlier, but when they heard he was forcing them from their beds for a mission, any complaints would likely die out immediately. Hell, even if they didn't, he'd force them to go anyway; they sorely needed the experience.

The Primera stopped outside a door and knocked firmly.

"Come in," came Sun-Sun's voice from inside the room.

Ichigo opened the door and stepped inside, prompting his fraccion to bow at the waist. He waited until she'd returned to standing up straight and tossed her one of the cloaks.

"Put it on and prepare to be away for a while, at least a week or two. When you're done, come out to the common area." He stayed long enough to see her nod, face clearly expressing her confusion, before walking back out into the hallway and heading for Mila-Rose's room.

He knocked on her door just as he had Sun-Sun's and entered upon her permission.

She looked up from where she was reading on the edge of her bed and immediately stood up to bow.

"Put this on," Ichigo said as he tossed her a cloak, "and prepare to be away for at least a week or two. Meet out in the common area when you're ready, I'll explain there."

"I will."

He nodded and left the room, turning towards the room belonging to his final fraccion, Apache.

Instead of beckoning him inside, she answered the door herself when he knocked, noticeably disheveled and apparently quite irritated.

"I told you I don't – Ichigo-sama!"

The Primera arched an eyebrow at her odd behavior, causing an embarrassed blush to spread across her cheeks.

"I -" she started.

Ichigo held up a hand. "I don't think I want to know. Just put this cloak on and pack enough for a week or two away from here, then meet out in the common area."

Apache nodded mutely, accepted the cloak and then stepped back inside her room, the door shutting quietly behind her.

Ichigo shook his head.

"Women," he muttered as he retreated into his room to prepare for the mission himself.

Break

Sun-Sun was the first to arrive in the common area, a large room that held a vast amount of comfortable furniture and led to no less than five balconies overlooking Hueco Mundo. It was the place where Ichigo and his fraccion preferred to relax at whenever they weren't doing anything.

She made herself comfortable in one of the chairs and settled in to wait.

Mila-Rose joined her just over a minute later, carrying a small pack attached to her belt beneath her cloak.

"He tell you anything about this?"

Sun-Sun shook her head. "Just to pack for a week or two and to wear this cloak."

"Well, we're gonna be leaving Las Noches...maybe even Hueco Mundo," a grin spread across the well endowed fraccion at the thought of seeing new places.

"Possibly," Sun-Sun agreed. "I can't think of anything Aizen-sama would send Ichigo-sama to do in Hueco Mundo, but Aizen-sama _is _nearly impossible to predict..."

Before the conversation could progress any further, Apache entered the room, wearing a cloak identical to the ones on her fellow fraccion.

"The hell is this all about?" she questioned, still rather irritated.

Mila-Rose grinned. "We wouldn't know, your crush didn't happen to tell you anything, did he?"

"I do not have a crush on Ichigo-sama!" Apache grit out, obviously annoyed at the turn the conversation had taken.

"Right," Sun-Sun said, a playful smirk hiding behind the sleeve of her arrancar uniform. "So the way you were going on and on about him earlier was just, ahh, what'd you call them? Tactical observations?"

"Yes!" Apache said loudly, her face bright red.

Mila-Rose chose that moment to further embarrass the blue haired arrancar. "Of course they were Sun-Sun, anyone could've come to the conclusion that Ichigo-sama was _always _cool and collected when he fought. That he never let anything get to him and that he was so strong, he didn't even need his zanpakutō to beat even the strongest of his enemies!"

"I- You-," Apache spluttered, her already admittedly miserable control over her emotions completely lost. "I didn't say that you bitch!"

"Sure you didn't."

"Don't patronize me!"

"Do you even know what that word means?"

"Of course I do! Now quit fucking exaggerating what I said!"

"Oh?" Mila-Rose quirked an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure you said all that stuff about Ichigo-sama after he left to meet Aizen-sama."

"Bull shit I did!"

Apache's features held a startling resemblance to a tomato at that point and she was right in Mila-Rose's face, standing on the tips of her toes to even the height difference. The dark skinned arrancar, for her part, was fighting to hold back her grin and Sun-Sun was softly giggling behind her sleeve.

This was how Ichigo found them.

"Apache?" he stated more than questioned flatly.

The female arrancar whirled around to face him. _"What!?"_ she spat out, a thunderous expression on her face.

Of course, as soon as she realized who she was talking to, her anger evaporated and gave way to embarrassment.

Her damnable blush deepened too.

"Ichigo-sama!" she yelped as her eyes went wide.

Mila-Rose couldn't hold it in any longer, she burst out laughing.

"You *gasp* you *gasp* you-" she trailed off into more roaring laughter, holding her gut as she sunk to her knees.

Ichigo had thought he'd seen it all by this point – Apache blushing and Mila-Rose practically busting a gut laughing? Are these my fraccion...? - but when he turned to find Sun-Sun shaking in the effort she was making to hide laughter while she hid her mouth behind her sleeve, well, he knew it was best not to ask.

He waited patiently for his fraccion to compose themselves, something that ended up taking several minutes, and gestured for them to sit on a couch when they did.

The Primera remained standing a few yards away from his fraccion.

"Right, I won't ask and you won't have to tell me," he continued before any of them could make a comment to start up laughing – or blushing – again. "We've received a mission from Aizen-sama."

That certainly got their attention.

"We are to infiltrate Soul Society in search of a soul that's been rumored to have special healing powers. We need to confirm or deny whether these rumors are true and, if they are indeed true, then we are to report back here immediately."

"Awesome!" Apache crowed, her earlier embarrassment apparently forgotten.

"Indeed," Ichigo grinned. "Now you see the reason why we need to where these cloaks at all times, yes?"

He received three nods from his fraccion.

"Good. Now, Aizen-sama has told me that the rumors were said to have started in one of the eastern districts of the Rukongai, so we'll start our search there. We are allowed to use force to escape if we are found out, but otherwise, avoid it all costs."

"Searching for a rumor by using a rumor as our starting point, wonderful," Apache muttered under her breath as Ichigo turned and opened a Garganta.

Unfortunately for her, the Espada heard what she said.

"Are you questioning myself and Aizen-sama, Apache?" Ichigo said as he leaned down to hold his face just about a foot away from hers'.

"No!" she said quickly, startled due to the fact that she actually hadn't meant any disrespect by it. "I would never doubt you Ichigo-sama!"

The Primera nodded and turned without another word, entering the Garganta, leaving his three fraccion alone for the moment.

"Oh Ichigo-sama! I'd never doubt you Ichigo-sama!" Mila-Rose said, making an overly exaggerated swooning motion to complete her imitation.

Apache growled at her and made a grab for her cloak. The dark skinned arrancar danced out of range before her fellow fraccion could get a hold of her though and immediately entered the Garganta behind Ichigo.

Sun-Sun started after her, but stopped short of going through the portal. "You're blushing again," she teased before she turned and disappeared, leaving Apache fuming silently in the common area.

"I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM!"

Break

"Mah mah, Apache, Ichigo looks so 'cool and collected' in his cloak, doesn't he?" Mila-Rose stage-whispered to the blue haired arrancar, completely ignoring the fact that Ichigo could hear every word she said. After all, that just made the teasing more fun.

Apache silently made a grab for her and actually managed to get a hold of her cloak, but Ichigo's voice cut their antics short.

"Alright," he said as stopped to observe a town from the cliff he and his fraccion were standing on. "Split up and search this town for any sign of evidence that our mystery healer has been here. Remember, we're normal citizens of the Rukongai, so no extraordinary abilities got it? If possible, don't even let your zanpakutō be seen."

The trio of arrancar nodded.

"We'll meet back up here at sunset and remember," he glanced at Apache and Mila-Rose, "don't draw any unnecessary attention to yourselves."

Another trio of nods.

Ichigo heaved a sigh. "Well, this is it. Don't let me down."

Break

Ichigo quietly sat in a small restaurant on the third day of his mission, idly sipping at a cup of tea that he was holding by the brim with his fingertips. This was the fourth town he and his fraccion had searched for evidence of the mystery healer that held Aizen's interest and there was a definite pattern in the sickly population developing.

In the first and second towns anywhere from one-third to one-fourth of their population was sick. The third town though, despite being larger, had almost no sick or injured residents. The fourth town had turned out to be the same.

The residents of the latter two spoke of a wonderful healer that could fix any injury like it'd never even been there and cure any sickness like it'd never even been contracted.

Yes, Ichigo decided, this healer was definitely Aizen's target.

He sighed and, after a brief search, found the reiatsu signature of his nearest fraccion. He pulled his cloak back up over his face and left a few coins on the table to pay for his drink as he walked out onto the street.

Once outside under the waining sun's light, he disappeared into the shadows of an alley way and focused on his fraccion again. He disappeared again, though this time it was due to his speed without the help of sonido, and reappeared moments later in another alleyway just as Apache walked by.

Ichigo grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him in the alleyway.

Her eyes had narrowed in suspicion and anger at first, but that quickly gave way to confusion, especially when the Primera slung an arm around her shoulder and started to lean heavily on her.

"Play along," Ichigo said as he directed them back out into the street, faking a limp as he did so.

Apache, for her part, struggled under his weight at first but quickly became comfortable with the added pressure on her shoulder and adjusted her weight accordingly.

"Escuse me, excuse me, you there!" Ichigo called out to a random passerby.

"My s...sweetheart," he stuttered, almost calling Apache, who looked absolutely nothing like him, his sister, "and I are looking for the healer we've heard so much about in these parts. You see, I managed to get a rather nasty injury to my leg from a hollow not too long ago and I'm unable to tend to my fields without it."

The middle aged man Ichigo had caught the attention of nodded. Minor hollow attacks in the Rukongai were a frequent occurrence, in fact, it was the main cause behind disabling injuries in the towns and cities outside the Seireitei.

"She left town a week err two ago, headin' west towards the walls o' the Seireitei. Stops in every town for a day err two to fix up the injured though, so if ya hurry, you should be able to catch her."

Ichigo nodded and made to speak again, but Apache beat him to it. "We can't thank you enough sir, it's been so hard around the farm since the attack..."

The man nodded happily. "No problem at all! Though, I gotta admit, I'm kinda curious... what's with yer hair?"

Apache sighed internally at having to fend off another suspicious Rukongai citizen. Sun-Sun's mask fragments could easily be passed off as a hair clip and Mila-Rose's could be explained almost just as easily as an exotic hair ornament. The fragments of her hollow mask were easily the most difficult part of the mission for her though and after the first day, she and Ichigo developed a story to explain them.

"It's tradition where I come from to wear an ornament like this to part my hair, the horn signifies the duties that I am responsible for."

"Oh," the man said, his eyebrows arched in interest. He opened his mouth again, likely to ask another question, but closed it a moment later, much to the relief of both Apache and Ichigo.

"Well, I hope you find that healer. Good luck in yer search!"

"Thank you," Ichigo called after him as Apache started to lead him to a nearby alleyway.

Once they were safely hidden by the shadows, the Primera grabbed hold of his fraccion's arm and used sonido to bring them to the southern edge of town almost instantly. Once there he spiked his reiatsu, desperately hoping none of the shinigami he'd seen lately noticed, and took a seat against a tree to wait.

Apache hesitated for a moment, but then sat herself down next to him.

"You were convincing," Ichigo said as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Almost had me fooled."

The blue haired arrancar snorted and risked jabbing him with her elbow. "Why thank you, _sweetheart._"

Much to her relief, her superior only chuckled under his breath.

"I was about to call you my sister... but I think even that man would've seen through that one pretty damned quickly."

"What's this about sisters?" Mila-Rose said, an eyebrow arched, as she approached the pair.

Apache grinned, inspiration suddenly coming to her. "We found out the healer we're looking for is Aizen's sister. Apparently she's a lesbian into the amazon look."

An odd looking scowl appeared on Mila-Rose's face. "Oh..."

A second later, her scowl morphed into a frown, realization dawning in her eyes.

"You liar! That's not true."

Apache chortled in glee. "Course it ain't, but you fell for it anyway ya dumb bitch!"

"Alright alright," Ichigo said as he stood up upon seeing Sun-Sun approach. "Let's get going, we've still gotta find this healer and we gotta do it before the shinigami find us."

Break

Three days later, Ichigo and his fraccion stood overlooking one of the gates that allowed souls entrance into the Seireitei. Their target had allegedly enrolled in the academy to become a shinigami and, due to obvious reasons, they weren't going to assault the home of their enemies without consulting Aizen first.

"Well, looks like this is where we head back," Ichigo stated. "Gotta admit though, I'm kind of surprised the shinigami never managed to find us."

"Oh? I wouldn't be too sure about that, hollow."

The Primera spun around to find a female shinigami staring at him, berating himself for lowering his guard as he did so. Behind her about a dozen shinigami stood at the ready, one of which was a vice-captain.

"Soifon, captain of the second squad. What a pleasure to meet you," Ichigo said as he managed to match her face with a name. With the trouble Zangetsu had been giving him recently he was somewhat wary of getting into a fight with a force this large and potentially this powerful, but it looked like he'd have no choice.

A sneer formed on the woman's face. "By the orders of Captain-Commander Yamamoto, you are to be disposed of for the slaughter of one shinigami and six humans, what do you have to say for yourself, hollow?"

He grinned. "Not hollow. Arrancar."

Soifon's eyes narrowed in what Ichigo believed was anger. "You dare taint all shinigami by acquiring our powers? You'll die here today, I'll make sure of it."

"Ahh look at that ladies," the Primera said. "The captain's mad, she even brought her big bad vice-captain with her to play with you. She must be serious..."

The three fraccion laughed at the taunt, but the warning hidden inside of it was clearly received.

This woman is no push over and subordinates won't be either. Take this fight seriously.

"Get him," Soifon commanded as she withdrew her zanpakutō.

Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose and Apache all moved to intercept the shinigami as they charged at Ichigo, successfully stopping their advance by loosing a combined cero on the ground in front of them.

"We'll be your opponents," Mila-Rose said. "None of you are worth Ichigo-sama's time, after all."

Apache grinned. "I don't even think your precious captain'll be able to make him draw one of his zanpakutō."

The vice-captain bristled. "Soifon-taicho will wipe the floor with your 'Ichigo'. He doesn't stand a chance! She'll kill him before he even knows what happened!"

"You shouldn't make assumptions like that when you don't half of what you should," Sun-Sun stated plainly. "Your captain is known for her speed and agility, but Ichigo has such high levels of reiatsu, that he can't contain it all in his zanpakutō. Instead, it's used to augment his speed and strength."

"Whatever," the obese man grunted, still clearly confident in Soifon's abilities. "What I am sure of though, is that we're gonna kill you!"

"Bring it," spat Apache as she unclipped her bracelets and snapped them open to form her chakram-like weapons. Beside her, Sun-Sun's three pronged zanpakutō appeared from within the folds of her sleeve and Mila-Rose drew her longsword.

"Let's start things off with a bang, huh?" Apache muttered as she started charging a cero.

Break

"Jinteki Shakusetsu, Suzumebachi!"

Soifon's zanpakutō instantly took the shape of a 'stinger' of sorts on the middle finger of her right hand. As soon as it was done transforming, she dashed toward Ichigo, jabbing at his chest with her weapon.

Ichigo knocked her hand away from him with one of his own and ruthlessly swung out at her with one of his legs. She dodged it, much to his annoyance, and skillfully used shunpo to reappear on his side, making another attempt to stab him with her weapon.

The Primera twisted around to face her and leaned backwards, away from her attack. He quickly brought his leg up in a blur of white and landed a solid blow on her abdomen. However due to the awkwardness of his position, the kick wasn't as powerful as it could've been.

Nonetheless, Soifon stumbled backward with a gasp. She quickly collected herself though and blurred out of existence again.

Ichigo twisted around to find her behind him, her hand only inches from his flesh. His arm quickly shot out and caught her wrist before she could make contact though.

She improvised instantly, actually managing to catch Ichigo off guard, and lashed out with one of her legs.

The Primera grunted as her foot came into contact with the side of his face, but did not relinquish his hold on her wrist. Instead, he started charging a cero with his free hand.

"Soifon, formerly Shaolin Fon of the Fon family," he said as the cero grew in size and power in his hand, which he'd moved out of her range the moment he'd caught her wrist. She was pummeling him with her legs and free hand at this point, clearly seeing what he was trying to do. He ignored the blows though, his hierro absorbing most, if not all the damage they inflicted and shifted whenever she tried to strike vital points in his anatomy.

"You were the protégé and guard of Shihōin Yoruichi until her desertion, at which point, you took over her duties. You are extremely agile and fast and your physical strength isn't something to be laughed at, but you've got one major weakness, Soifon-taicho."

The cero was easily twice the size of his hand at this point, Soifon was eying it warily. Something of that size would doubtlessly severely injure, if not kill, her.

"You have no other defense against an arrancar's toughened skin if your zanpakutō is taken out of the equation."

Soifon grit her teeth. His grip on her wrist was exceedingly strong and her physical attacks were doing nothing to loosen it.

She only had one choice.

"Cero!"

"Bankai!"

Ichigo watched as his grip on her wrist was forcefully broken, even as his other hand sent his cero rocketing forward. Much to his surprise, Soifon actually managed to kick off of him and put enough distance between herself and his attack to attempt to counter it with one of her own.

He watched as she fired a shot out of her bazooka-like bankai. He watched as his cero collided with it in mid-air and watched as the recoil sent her spiraling toward the ground.

Then, all hell broke loose.

An earth shaking explosion shattered the somewhat quiet atmosphere of the air above the Rukongai.

Break

Marechiyo Yoshiayamenosuke Nikkōtarōemon Ōmaeda, or simply Ōmaeda to his comrades, hurled his zanpakutō at the arrancar who seemed to be imitating the amazons, complete with a full set of amazon-like battle armor and a massive yellow plume on the top of her head.

Mila-Rose blocked the deadly ball with the released form of her sword and managed to knock it off to the side. She then used sonido to instantly appear behind the vice-captain of the second squad, swinging at the shinigami with her longsword.

Ōmaeda shunpo'd away from her and immediately heaved his zanpakutō at her with all his strength. It was side stepped, but the man didn't stop there. He pulled the chain tight and started swinging the deadly spiked ball around in circles over his head.

"Ha! Let's see you get through this one arrancar!"

Mila-Rose snorted and used her reiatsu to propel herself in the air, above the obese vice-captain.

"H-Hey! That's not fair!"

The fraccion ignored him and started to charge a cero in front of her mouth

"Hey! Is that a cero! I didn't mean get through it with ranged attacks! You're cheating! Hey!"

"Cero!"

Mila-Rose looked on, disappointed in her opponent, as he was engulfed in her cero with a screech that put Loly and Menoly to shame.

She turned away, intending to help Apache and Sun-Sun finish off the rest of the second division shinigami, but yelped in surprise when she was suddenly sent hurling toward the ground, courtesy of Ōmaeda's backhand.

She hit the grassy landscape with a thud and bounced several yards before she came to a stop.

"What the hell..." she muttered under her breath, eyes scanning the area.

Suddenly, Ōmaeda was right next to her, delivering a kick to her side as she climbed to her hands and knees.

"You shouldn't underestimate your opponents arrancar, no matter how they act. It'll get you killed," said the shinigami, uncharacteristically serious.

Mila-Rose quickly got to her feet, only to be forced to dodge the spiked ball again. Suddenly, her opponent was behind her.

"_Fast," _she thought as the shinigami twisted and kicked her in the side again, sending her bouncing across the ground, eventually coming to a stop on her back some yards away.

Before she could even hope to regain her bearings, Ōmaeda swung his spiked zanpakutō over his head at her, this time scoring a devastating hit on her stomach.

Mila-Rose cried out as she felt her flesh get torn and battered by the weapon and her back crushed further into the unforgiving ground.

When the pressure left her stomach, she clenched her jaw and splayed one of her hands across the bloody wound, a futile attempt to make the pain recede. Her back arched involuntarily as the wound was exposed to open air.

And then, Ōmaeda was hit by the oddest looking projectile Mila-Rose had ever seen, stranger yet, the projectile seemed to have just fallen out of the sky.

"Taicho! Are you alright taicho?!"

"Shut up," came a woman's voice as one of the figures stood up in the debris that had been scattered about from the collision.

Two heavy thuds alerted Mila-Rose to Apache and Sun-Sun, who had just landed next to her position on the ground.

Both of them looked tired, weary and battered, but they appeared to have been able to best the team of shinigami that they'd faced.

"Hah! The fat one kicked your ass real good, didn't he bitch?"

Mila-Rose growled at the blue haired arrancar but it ended up turning into a whimper of sorts, a grimace on her face.

The static sound of sonido drew the trio's attention to Ichigo, who had just appeared a few yards in front of them.

His cloak and vest had been completely incinerated and his bandages were torn and tattered. A bold number one stood proudly upon his right cheek, his hollow hole was completely revealed in his stomach and his mask fragments were no longer hidden by his cloak. The only thing that seemed to have survived the blast were his harnesses, and that was likely only because he reinforced them with reiatsu daily.

"I told you to take them seriously, Mila-Rose."

His dark skinned fraccion grimaced, but said nothing, and allowed her zanpakutō to return to its sealed state.

"It's such a pity," he continued, this time making his voice loud enough to be heard by the shinigami across the clearing, "we all seem to be underestimating each other today. The lovely Shaolin Fon almost died because she didn't believe me to be a challenge. Grave mistake, wouldn't you say?"

The captain scowled. She'd been testing her opponent's speed and reflexes, trying to get a grasp on how powerful he was. Admittedly, she had been caught completely off guard and almost paid for it.

Ichigo sighed, more reiatsu signatures appearing on the edge of his senses.

"Well, I suppose our task is done then. Apache, Sun-Sun, help Mila-Rose to her feet would you?"

Soifon, now promptly braced against the recoil of her bankai, fired another deadly shot toward Ichigo and his fraccion.

The Primera immediately flashed out of view, his fraccion disappearing alongside him, and reappeared a safe distance from the explosion. The moment his subordinates were safe, his figure blurred again, this time appearing directly in front of Ōmaeda.

Ichigo punched straight through the man's zanpakutō and landed a crushing blow on his gut, as if the spiked ball wasn't even there. He then turned to Soifon and grabbed her still human arm, tossing her up in the air.

With her bankai weighing her down and restricting her movements, Soifon was ill-equipped to evade the blows that the Primera sent at her after having used her bankai twice in less than five minutes. She was tossed about like a rag doll under the furious assault and when she finally hit the ground, at least a minute later, she nearly cried out in relief.

Her body was far too beaten to attempt the use of the speed technique she'd been developing and her reiatsu stores were far lower than she felt comfortable with. There wasn't an inch of her flesh that was left unmarred by Ichigo's assault.

The incoming reiatsu signatures, Ichigo realized as he landed softly in front of his fraccion, were only about a minute away from their position.

It was time to go.

"Well, it's been fun, but I'm afraid we have to take our leave," he drawled as he opened up a Garganta next to him. He ushered his three fraccion inside of it before him and took a look back at the beaten forms of Soifon and Ōmaeda.

Ichigo toyed with the idea of killing them then and there, but he knew he wouldn't in the end. Both sides had underestimated each other and he refused to kill an opponent without giving them a chance to prove his or herself.

"Get strong, shinigami. You'll die if become complacent in your power... there's a war on the horizon, after all."

With that, he was gone.

Break

"This intruder and three accomplices were able to beat your entire attack force, Soifon-taicho, even with you and your vice-captain present?"

The woman nodded rigidly, clearly still unhappy about her loss.

"Do have any names or any way to identify him at all?"

Ōmaeda, who had been allowed to attend the captain's meeting due to his part in the events being discussed, spoke up.

"His underlings went by the names Sun-Sun, Apache and Mila-Rose. They referred to him as Ichigo-sama, Yamamoto-sōtaichō."

The elderly shinigami nodded. "Soifon. In your report, you stated that all four had identifying hollow mask fragments on their person due to their status as arrancar. Please elaborate."

"They had mask fragments just as all arrancar do, but their's were different than the ones that form naturally on hollows. I believe they were changed into arrancar through the use of a device of some sort."

"So," Yamamoto stated, a grave look on his face, "Aizen must've have gotten hold of the hōgyoku and managed to activate it already... this is troubling."

"Yamamoto-sōtaichō, the leader also had a large number one one his right cheek. I do not know the significance of such a marking, but I found it worth noting."

The Captain-Commander nodded. "Very well. I want all patrols and guards squads to be doubled in number. We will not be caught off guard like this again."

He turned towards Byakuya. "Kuchiki, I want you to contact Urahara Kisuke and request that a portal to Hueco Mundo be created."

He took one last look over the assembled shinigami.

"Dismissed."

Break

"Ah, Ichigo. I trust your mission went well?" Aizen said through his serene smile, completely ignoring the Primera's tattered appearance.

A nod was his answer.

"Looks like he got the shit kicked out of him by those shinigami!" Grimmjow, ever the one to speak his mind freely, taunted from his position amongst Ichigo's fellow Espada.

"Grimmjow please," Aizen said, "I'll ask you not to aggravate Ichigo. He is most likely tired and weary from the mission I sent him on."

"My fraccion and I successfully located the target. The only resistance we encountered was second squad captain, Soifon and her underlings. One of my fraccion was injured in the exchange that followed, I request she be able recuperate before undertaking any additional missions."

Barragan let out an audible disapproving grumble, likely at the fact that the Primera asked that his fraccion be given time to recover.

"Of course, of course," Aizen drawled, studiously ignoring the Tercera's interruption. "And where is our friendly healer? I'm assuming he's no longer in the Rukongai?"

"She, actually," Ichigo started, "and she has enrolled in the shinigami academy as of a few days ago."

The Primera could easily see the blatant curiosity that his fellow Espada held over the details of his mission and who his target was, but obviously knew better than to interrupt at this point.

"That is quite troubling. We'll have to remove her from their influence as soon as possible," Aizen mused.

A short silence stretched over the room.

"Take two days to recover, Ichigo. Relax and tend to your fraccion. I'll have another mission for you then."

Break

"**You spared the shinigami."**

Ichigo blinked and cast a glance toward where Zangetsu lay resting against a wall in his room.

"Yeah," he grunted as he made himself comfortable on his bed. "What of it?"

"**You claimed that you were a hollow not long ago. Sparing a shinigami is not something a hollow would do."**

The Primera stayed quiet for a moment before answered, his voice weary. "I don't know what I am anymore, Zangetsu."

"**The sky was cloudless for a brief moment today, when you decided to spare the shinigami."**

"It's like that when I'm at peace, right?"

"**More or less."**

Ichigo sighed. "Well, the fact that you've decided to talk to me again means I must've done something right."

"**I've come to accept it," **Zangetsu said, surprising the Primera as he took on his physical form in front of him. **"I've accepted that you will never be a true shinigami, just like you will never be a true hollow. You will make decisions that I won't agree with but as long as those decisions keep your mind free from turmoil, I will accept it."**

The blade personified held out a hand.

"**Let us grow as one, Ichigo."**

The Primera reached out and grasped the offered hand.

"Let's," he nodded.

Break

Less than a day later, Ichigo could be seen walking in his wing of Las Noches, clothed in his usual arrancar uniform again. Sun-Sun and Apache were walking quietly behind him, rather curious – and annoyed – as to why he forced them out of bed at four in the morning and made them follow him to Mila-Rose's room.

He came up to the door and, without warning, kicked it down.

"Uhh...Ichigo-sama?" Apache muttered as she eyed the shattered remains of the door.

Her superior ignored her though, instead walking confidently up to the side of his third fraccion's bed. Once there, he wedged his foot in between the first and second mattresses that Mila-Rose was currently asleep on, apparently having her door knocked down wasn't enough to wake her, and flipped the entire mattress over.

Mila-Rose woke with a screech as she flew out of her bed, her recently healed injuries protesting at the abrupt movement.

Ichigo looked on silently, hands casually stuffed in his pockets, as the dark skinned arrancar stood up rigidly. She was fuming and her hair was anything but organized.

"Come," he said calmly, as if he hadn't literally just forced his fraccion out of her bed. He didn't wait for a response, instead simply walking out of the room without another word, Apache and Sun-Sun trailing behind him.

Apache though, before she left, couldn't resist getting a jab in.

"Not too much of a morning person are yah?"

Mila-Rose saw red and screamed bloody murder as she dove at the blue haired arrancar, who quickly scampered out of the room before she could be torn limb from limb.

The dark skinned arrancar sighed and deflated, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Ichigo'd better have had a damn good reason for waking her up this early and putting her through hell.

Break

"Speed training," Apache stated, her face deadpan.

Ichigo nodded. "The three of you are sorely lacking speed and, as your superior, it is my duty to crush that weakness."

"At four in the morning," Apache inserted helpfully.

"I'll make it three tomorrow, if you want."

She wisely fell silent, settling for dirty looks instead.

"So," Sun-Sun started as she held up her sleeve to hide her yawn, "what do we have to do?"

"Your first challenge is simple. You have to catch me, anything is allowed. I'll tell you about the second step once you accomplish the first."

"But-" Apache started, she was cut off when Ichigo continued speaking.

"I am allowed to retaliate."

All three of them paled.

"Well," the Primera said around his smirk, "let's get started, shall we?"

Apache, Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose warily followed him as he walked out on to a balcony and used sonido to put a decent amount of space between them.

"Go."

Break

Apache collapsed onto her knees, panting and gasping for air as sweat ran down her face.

Her superior was a bloody fucking sadist.

He would allow them to get close to him, as in within inches of touching him, before he would disappear by sonido or pure speed. No matter what she and her fellow fraccion did, it was always the same.

If they tried to team up on him and herd him into a corner, he would allow it, only to disappear faster than any of them could track when they were moments from winning.

If they used their zanpakutō to help extend their reach, he _did _say they could use anything to touch him, he would dance just beyond the tips of their weapons.

If they used any of their cero to try and gain the upper hand, he would catch them and toss them back, twice as fast.

Apache grimaced as she saw Sun-Sun's pink cero get redirected at her position.

Oh, and he wasn't allowing them any breaks either.

She ignored the protesting her muscles did when she used them to jump away from the cero and pumped what little reiatsu she had left to allow her to stand in mid air.

Even that was a challenge now.

"Alright!" the bastard called out, not even one drop of sweat on his skin. His breathing wasn't even labored...

"Time for the second challenge!"

"I can barely fucking stand!" Apache spat out in protest, similar statements immediately following from Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose.

"I know, that's what I was aiming for."

"Fucking sadist!"

Ichigo smirked and ignored his blue haired fraccion's accusation. "It's time to work on your reflexes!"

Without warning, he reached up and pulled Zangetsu free from its harness for the first time since he was an Adjuchas. The white wrapping around the blade reacted to his touch and unraveled, instead coiling up and around his right arm.

Apache, Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose didn't have time to observe or admire one of the zanpakutō of the Primera. He wasted no time in swinging it in a wide arc, a loud and familiar yell accompanying the action.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

The three of them screamed bloody murder as they scrambled to get out of the way of the massive crescent shaped attack, only barely managing to do so.

It was onlyabout twice as fast as a cero, after all.

Twice as fast as one of _his _cero.

They tracked the blue crescent's progress through the air, watching in no small amount of awe and even a little fear as it cut cleanly through one of the massive pillars in the area, splitting the building straight down the middle.

"You coulda killed us with that!" Apache yelled at the top of her lungs.

"All the more encouragement for you to get the hell outta the way," Ichigo answered.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

"You're fucking crazy!"

Break

Sun-Sun swayed dangerously in mid air over the sands of Hueco Mundo's surface, her reiatsu levels were lower than she'd ever felt them before, it was a struggle just to emit enough to stay up in the air.

Her body was covered in sweat and the long dress that served as her uniform did nothing to help cool her off under the blazing sun. She and her fellow fraccion had been at this for about seven hours straight and while they were ready to collapse, Ichigo's breathing wasn't even slightly labored.

"How much... Just what are you?" she muttered to herself, blinking several times to keep her eyes in focus.

"Alright," came Ichigo's voice, "we're done for now."

Sun-Sun heard Apache groan loudly in relief – or maybe it was her? - and gratefully lowered herself to the sands below. Once there, she collapsed in a heap, panting and uncomfortably hot and clammy in her dress.

She brought out her zanpakutō without thinking and wasted no time in cutting off her dress at the waist. She kicked away the part that was covering her legs, leaving just her skin tight spandex and sandals to cover her legs.

The green haired arrancar sighed in relief.

"Feels good..." she muttered and she flipped onto her back, laying eagle spread on the sand.

"I'm- I'm gonna kill that bastard when he gets down here," Apache muttered from where she was laying on her stomach. They all knew she didn't have the energy to follow through on her promise, much less lift one her arms.

Mila-Rose was struggling to stay on a knee but after wobbling and swaying for nearly thirty seconds, she gave it up as hopeless and fell over onto her side.

Ichigo blurred into existence between the trio. "Tired?"

"Fuck you!" Apache's voice was muffled from where she was stuffing her face in the sand, but the message got across nonetheless.

The Primera walked over to her and started nudging her with his foot. "You should be thankful I'm training you, the other fraccion aren't as lucky."

All of them knew he was right, but none of the fraccion were ready or wanted to admit it.

"Or I could be like Barragan and just ignore you until I need you."

A silence settled over the four arrancar as three lay panting on the desert sands.

"I see you felt a change was necessary, Sun-Sun."

The fraccion let out a groan in response, she didn't she was capable of actually forming words at that moment.

Ichigo chuckled and walked over to her, picking her up in his arms. It was then that he noticed just how much she'd sweat.

Her legs, her arms, her face, her back, everywhere was slick with moisture. He glanced at Apache and Mila-Rose, rather certain that they were in the same condition.

Sun-Sun, for her part, was just enjoying being close to Ichigo. He was _cold_ and it felt amazing.

In reality, he was actually rather warm...but compared to the heat Sun-Sun felt, anything was cool.

"You guys did great," Ichigo said as he flashed out of existence with the green haired arrancar in his arms. He arrived in his wing and quickly made his way to Sun-Sun's room, placing her on her bed when he arrived and flashing back to his two remaining fraccion.

Next, he picked up Mila-Rose, finding her to be just as sweaty as Sun-Sun. He blurred out of existence again, this time heading toward the room belonging to his dark skinned fraccion.

He was especially proud of her performance this morning. Despite still recovering from her injures, she held out for just as long as her fellow fraccion did.

Ichigo placed her on her bed and then disappeared for the final time, reappearing next to Apache.

"M'onna make 'ou gimme a sponge baf err some shit ta make up fer dis..." she muttered, only half aware of what she was saying.

The Primera smirked as he reached down to pick up the last of his fraccion.

"If you guys manage to catch me one of these days, I'll give you all the sponge baths you could ever want."

Apache snorted and nestled against him, just as Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun had done. "Pervert..." she managed before she fell asleep.

Ichigo sighed. They weren't going to like it when he woke them up tomorrow to do more speed training before his mission...

But then again, he mused with a grin on his face, what did he care how they felt about it?

Break

**A/N:** Well, there you have it, chapter four of Hollowed Existence.

Aaroniero's aspect isn't actually Gluttony, it's Greed. Don't worry, I made sure Ichigo's aspect wasn't a copy of any other ones and there is a reason why it's Gluttony that'll become clear later on.

Ichigo will only be paired with Apache in this story. I don't care one way or the other about yuri, so I doubt I'd have a problem writing it. I don't like yaoi in the foreground of a story though and when I thought about what I'd feel if I were a reader and an author decided to expand the pairing of a story to include yaoi, I shut down any possibilities of slash, foreground or not.

As for the questions about Ichigo's horns in hollow form, no he hasn't been seen with them in my story..._yet_.

I hope the wait on this one didn't upset too many people. Character development is such a bitch to do properly...

Anyway, till next time.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own any of the characters or ideas used in this story, Bleach isn't mine.

**This chapter assumes basic knowledge about the anime Bleach.**

A Hollowed Existence

"Ichigo," Aizen greeted the Primera as he walked into the meeting room to receive his assignment.

"Capturing that healer is of the utmost importance right now, so I'm sending you back in to do just that. Now, Ulquiorra has managed to find out the name of your target, one Inoue Orihime."

The Primera's eyes widened. "But-"

The shinigami held up a hand. "I know, you killed her on the night you were turned into a hollow. The hōgyoku, it seems, expels all the souls that are trapped in a hollow when it forces it to undergo shinigamification. Since Inoue-san was a human when you devoured her, her spirit underwent the equivalent of a cleansing ritual and ended up in the Rukongai."

He paused. "How she received her powers, or possibly retained them, is beyond me."

"Then the rest of the people I consumed...my family and friends," Ichigo muttered, his eyes blank.

"Those who were alive at the time are likely residing in the Rukongai as well, Ichigo."

The Primera swallowed heavily. He knew he wasn't ready to face Karin or Yuzu yet, he could still remember every single detail of their expressions as he killed them and just how much they feared what he'd become.

How much they'd feared their own fucking _brother,_ the same one that would've given anything to protect them. The same one they trusted as much as, maybe even more than, their father.

He took in a deep breath, forcing his budding emotions away for the time being. He had a mission to concentrate on.

"You want me to retrieve Inoue Orihime and bring her here," he confirmed. "I request that my fraccion stay behind for this mission, I do not feel they are up to infiltrating the Seireitei."

Aizen nodded. "I expected as much, so I've already chosen a partner for you. She is new to my army and I believe this will be a good test of her strength."

He turned to his right and called out, "Harribel."

A woman appeared next to him, the static of sonido announcing her arrival. She had messy blond hair and wore a top that had a collar high enough to hide everything below her nose. Her long-sleeved shirt cut off just over half way down her breasts and she wore a little more revealing style of the typical arrancar pants. Gloves with black fingertips covered her hands and normal arrancar sandals covered her feet.

"This is Tia Harribel, a recently transformed arrancar," Aizen stated as he gestured to the blond, his eyes glinting. He then turned to face her.

"Harribel, this is Kurosaki Ichigo, my Primera Espada and your partner for this mission. Your performance here will decide what number you take in my army. I trust Ichigo to give me an unbiased report on your abilities and how you handled yourself, so I expect you to treat him with the respect he deserves."

The woman nodded and held out her hand to Ichigo. He reached forward without hesitation and gripped it, squeezing it once before letting go.

"Well," he said as he turned to leave the room after receiving a nod from Aizen, "let's get going then. I've gotta be back in time to wake my fraccion up at three in the morning for more training."

Harribel's arched eyebrow was the only sign she'd heard what he said.

* * *

"Ahh! Soul Society," Ichigo crowed dryly from his perch on a cliff overlooking the Seireitei, a brown cloak hiding his features. "I gotta admit, the shinigami have a nice thing going for them. I like this much better than the dry sand we have for our backyard in Hueco Mundo."

Harribel didn't respond, though he didn't really expect her to... she was rather quiet. At that moment she was crouched down on the balls of her feet, also hidden by a concealing brown cloak, silently observing the Seireitei and its happenings, at least what she could see over the walls.

"That big guy down there guards this gate day and night, Jirando or something."

"Jidanbō."

"Oh? I wasn't aware that you knew anything about Soul Society."

"Ichimaru Gin informed me of all I need to know when he led me to Las Noches."

"Well," Ichigo said, grinning, "that certainly makes things easier. Our target is a shinigami-in-training. To the best of my knowledge, she has long orange hair and gray eyes. Her name is Inoue Orihime."

"How are we going to get inside the walls undetected?"

He shrugged. "Dunno, hadn't thought that far ahead."

Harribel turned her head around enough so that she could stare at him out of the corner of her eye.

"What?" the Primera said. "You want to know how we'll get in? Fine... We'll... err... ah!" he snapped his fingers.

"The academy's classes should just be concluding for the day, so all the students will be wandering about the campus and out in the open in general. We'll beat Jidanbō, forcing him to let us in the Seireitei, and get our target before the shinigami can mount an organized defense. We'll be gone before they know what hit them."

Harribel stood up. "Our cloaks resemble the ones that shinigami use when they leave Soul Society for long periods of time, correct?"

Ichigo glanced down at said article of clothing, trying to recall the shinigami he'd seen during his previous mission that were wearing cloaks. "Yeah, suppose so."

"I suggest we wait for a pair of shinigami on their way back to the Seireitei from a mission in the Rukongai. We can steal their information and use it to pass by the gate keeper without conflict."

The Primera blinked and looked away. "Well, if you want to do it the _quiet _way..."

She didn't answer, so he turned and started towards the road.

* * *

A few hours later both Ichigo and Harribel were walking across the shinigami academy's campus in search of their target.

Entering the Seireitei had been easy enough, they hadn't even come close to being detected. They still had their cloaks on though and it was probably only a matter of time before an overly suspicious shinigami questioned them about it.

And if the cloaks didn't give them away, the Primera's hair undoubtedly would.

"Well," Ichigo muttered, "if we're going to be found out anyway, we might as well just check with the administration to see where she is right now. It'll give the other shinigami our position, but it should speed things up enough to the point where it won't matter."

Harribel nodded in agreement. "You said the classes have concluded for the day, correct?"

"Yeah, so I guess we'll head to wherever she lives."

They made their way to the administration building, ignoring the odd looks they received from various shinigami as they walked.

"Yo, lady," Ichigo greeted casually as he and Harribel approached a counter where two secretaries sat going about various tasks. One of them was listening to a hell butterfly and shuffling through various files while the other, unoccupied one looked up as she was addressed.

"Is a student by the name of Inoue Orihime currently enrolled in your academy?" the blond arrancar asked, her voice noticeably quieter than her partner's.

The shinigami looked down at one of the papers in front of her and, after searching it for several moments, looked up again and nodded in confirmation.

"She just started this semester," she said. "Can I ask after your relation to her?"

"We're her cousins," Ichigo answered, mentally cringing when he remembered the fact that Harribel's skin was quite a bit darker than his own, not to mention their features looked nothing alike.

The blond arrancar saved him though. "I am not related to her by blood, my parents were killed by hollows when I was little and Ichigo's were kind enough to take me in."

The shinigami behind the desk nodded in sympathy. "I'm sorry to hear that, hollows are such heartless creatures..."

The Primera resisted the urge he had to make a sarcastic comment, leaving the conversation to trail off into silence.

"Well," the woman said, "I won't keep you any longer. Your cousin lives in dorm six, room 3C-12."

Ichigo nodded gratefully, relieved that their story had been accepted without question, and turned to leave.

"By the way, why are you still wearing those cloaks?"

He sighed mutely.

"We do not look our best after several weeks of traveling," Harribel answered immediately. "We preferred that the public not see us in such a state."

Before the shinigami could question them any further, another figure shot through the doors of the building and ran straight toward the desk, nearly running Ichigo over in the process.

"He asked! He asked!" the figure, now recognizable as a female shinigami, said excitedly

The arrancar, grateful for the woman's distraction, silently started to make their way to the doors again.

Alas, it seemed fate was out to get them.

"Hey, what did you say your name was again?"

Ichigo stiffened and turned his head to the left, the side of his face that didn't have his tattoo facing the female shinigami. The woman who had been preoccupied with the hell butterfly before was now staring intently at him, her hand quietly sliding under the desk.

"I'm not sure I know what your talking about, shinigami-san."

Harribel's figure blurred, appearing again behind the three shinigami, just as an alarm sounded.

"Well, fuck," Ichigo muttered.

* * *

"I should be flattered, everyone here knows who I am."

Harribel didn't respond, busy with kicking away another nameless shinigami that had come to answer the alarm. She and Ichigo had forsaken their cloaks so that they could better defend themselves on their way to their target and were currently just reaching the rather large building she was supposed to reside in.

The Primera got to the doors first and, after having knocked away yet another shinigami, bowed to Harribel and held open the door.

"Ladies first," he said around a grin.

She suppressed the urge to berate him for not taking their mission seriously – anger would only cloud her judgment and he _was _her superior – and pointed up.

"3C-12. The third floor, wing C, number twelve."

Realization flashed across Ichigo's face as he let go of the door, instead using his reiatsu to lift himself up to the third floor of the building. He picked a window at random and smashed through it, ignoring the startled occupants inside of the room on his way toward the door.

"3B," he said upon seeing the plaque on the now-brutalized door, idly realizing that there was a rather large reiatsu source closing in on their position.

He and Harribel left the door leaning against the wall near its shattered frame and instead made their way toward the center of the building.

It was shaped like an 'X' with each leg representing a wing. There were about twenty rooms to each wing and the entire structure was five stories tall.

"There, the left one," Ichigo said as he and his companion came to the central point in the dorm building. The hallway directly opposite the one they had just come from was labeled 'D', 'A' was on their right and 'C' was to their left.

The Primera sprinted down the correct hallway, sandals tapping consistently against the more modern looking floors... modern by Soul Society standards, anyway. Even numbered doors were on the left, odds on the right.

2, 4.

The spiritual presence was outside the building now and it had been joined by many lesser, yet powerful signatures too.

"We've got what's probably a captain and several high ranking shinigami outside right now."

6, 8.

Harribel nodded in confirmation. "They won't do anything until they're sure they won't harm the students and, unless they've started evacuating them through the windows, it looks like that won't be possible for quite some time."

10...

Ichigo shook his head. "The second squad specializes in this quiet, close quarters type of combat. Assassinations. They don't know if we have a hostage though, so any noticeable attempt to get rid of us will wait until they know we don't."

12.

The Primera kicked in the door and entered the room, mentally preparing himself as best he could. Inoue Orihime might not have been one of his best friends, she wasn't much more than an acquaintance at the time he'd eaten her really, but that didn't mean he felt any less guilty about what he'd done.

A startled scream sounded from farther inside the larger, four person dorm, likely from one of the bedrooms.

A figure clad in casual clothing suddenly darted out from one of the rooms, her jaw clenched and fire present in her eyes.

She stopped abruptly though when she caught sight of Ichigo's face.

"Tatsuki," Ichigo muttered blankly. He'd never considered the possibility that she had joined the academy alongside Inoue. Looking back on it though, he realized that she'd always been protective of the orange haired girl, he was fool for not predicting she'd be here as well.

"Ichigo..." she murmured his name just as quietly as he'd said hers'. "What have they done to you..."

His oldest friend didn't get any farther though, Harribel appeared beside her and promptly knocked her out with a chop to her neck.

The Primera closed his eyes briefly. "_Sorry, Tatsuki. I know how protective you are of her."_

He opened his eyes again. "Alright, let's grab our target and get out of the Seireitei so we can open up a Garganta. I'm not strong enough to make one able to pass through their damnable barrier yet."

Harribel nodded and crossed her arms under her chest as she made her way deeper into the apartment, apparently oblivious to what her new posture did to her assets.

Ichigo snorted. He had an odd feeling that she was doing it just to see if she could get a rise out of him.

Nonetheless, he followed after her as she walked farther into the dorm, stopping at each doorway to check for an orange haired girl. The dorm was basically a large social room with five doorways on one of its walls. A few windows dotted another wall as well.

They found her in the last room, hands positioned on either side of her head where flower-like hair clips held her hair back.

She spoke the instant she saw Harribel's foot appear in the doorway, resolve burning in her eyes after having heard Tatsuki's body fall to the floor with a thud.

"Koten Zanshun. I reject!"

A tiny glowing projectile flew at the blond arrancar, nearly taking her head off, but she moved out of the way at the last second. The tiny thing wasn't done though, it turned around in mid-air instantly and shot toward Harribel again.

She wisely avoided touching the attack, instead choosing to use sonido to appear behind Inoue faster than the shinigami trainee could track.

The orange haired girl was knocked out in a manner similar to Tatsuki only a second later, but not before she saw a face she recognized appear in the doorway.

"Kurosaki...kun," she muttered as consciousness left her.

Harribel caught their target before she hit the ground and slung her over her shoulder. She then turned back to the Primera, silently waiting for instruction.

Ichigo opened his mouth to speak, but a minute disturbance of reiatsu alerted him to the presence of someone behind him.

He spun around, reflexively grabbing the hand that was jabbing at his chest in a grip as strong as iron.

"Shaolin Fon," the Primera said, grinning to himself. "We meet again, and under similar circumstances too."

The captain growled at him, likely still angry about her crushing defeat the last time she'd seen him.

"Well," Ichigo drawled, a cero charging in his hand as he tightened his grip around her wrist. "Let's see if you've improved shall we?"

Soifon bared her teeth at him and pointed her other hand at his chest, her pointer and ring fingers extending outwards.

"Byakurai!"

The Primera grinned and allowed his cero to flicker out of existence. He spun away from Soifon's lightning kidō and used the momentum it gave him to throw her away from him.

She landed heavily on a wall across the dorm room, blurring out of existence as soon as she'd regained her composure.

"Go, Harribel. I'll create a distraction for you," he commanded the blond arrancar, even as he used his forearm to redirect a jab made at his heart by Soifon. She wasn't playing around this time...

His partner nodded and disappeared with a static sound, leaving him alone with the second squad captain.

"Been practicing your kidō over the past two days huh?" Ichigo said as he side-stepped another Byakurai and forced Soifon back by attempting to land a backhand on her cheek.

"Your analysis was sound, hollow," the shinigami spat in response as she appeared on his side and lashed out with one of her legs.

The Primera caught her ankle and swung his own leg out in an attempt to catch her in the face. She used both her forearms to block him and, upon feeling the strength of his kick, pointed one of her hands at his chest, palm open.

"Shō!"

Ichigo suddenly found himself pushed away, his grip on her ankle broken.

He grinned. "You really took my words to heart huh? You even realized when you were outmatched and managed to get me away from you."

He swatted away her stinger-like zanpakutō as she made a jab for him again.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed."

"I wish I could say the same of you, arrancar. I've seen nothing new," she taunted as she tried to stab him with that infernally annoying shikai again.

Ichigo grunted, ignoring the taunt. Harribel should've had a sufficient enough amount of time to get away by now...

He lifted one of his fingers to his mouth and bit it hard enough to break the skin.

Soifon sent another bolt of lightning at him and quickly followed up with a skillful use of shunpo to appear behind him, Suzumebachi poised to strike.

The Primera dodged the Byakurai and used sonido to move across the room, away from his opponent for the moment.

He quickly started charging hollow reiatsu to the hand he'd injured earlier and held it out to his right, the direction the center of the building was located in.

"Gran Rey Cero."

Violent blue reiatsu shot away from his hand in the form of a small ball. It ripped cleanly through the walls of the dorm rooms and hallways, tearing a destructive path straight through anything and everything in its way, until it exploded in the middle of the wing on the opposite side of the building. Nearly the entire thing was obliterated, reduced to nothing more than splintered pieces of wood and charred remains of cloth.

Soifon gaped shamelessly for a moment, not in awe of the power displayed but what it had been used to destroy.

"You..." she swallowed. "Heartless bastard!"

Ichigo shrugged. If the students were smart they would've gotten out of the building by now, he didn't consider it his fault if they remained inside after alarms had been sounded and several captains had gathered outside the building.

"Necessary sacrifices, for our side of course. All's fair in love and war, yanno?"

Soifon charged at him head on, likely due to the fact that anger was clouding her judgment.

The Primera redirected her attempt to stab him toward the ground and sent his knee rocketing toward her chin.

It impacted cleanly, sending the captain stumbling back with what was obviously a severely broken jaw.

She blinked several times, dazed, before her vision came into focus again.

By the time she fully recovered her sight, it was far too late to dodge the fist coming at her stomach.

* * *

Kuchiki Byakuya calmly observed the sixth dorm, which was actually named 'Dorm Kuchiki' in honor of his position as sixth squad captain, from his spot on the ground several hundred feet away. Abarai Renji was standing just behind him, quietly awaiting further orders.

Soifon had entered the building just over a minute earlier in an attempt to figure out whether or not the arrancar had taken any hostages. In the meantime, Unohana Retsu and the majority of her squad members had gone about removing students from the dorms via the windows.

There was no sign of any combat occurring inside the dorms as of yet, no information from Soifon either.

"Mah mah, Kuchiki-taicho, you should relax a little bit," Kyōraku Shunsui drawled from his position sitting on the ground a few yards away. His vice-captain, Ise Nanao was sitting beside him, a teapot that'd he had her bring along simmering quietly in her hands.

"We can't do anything 'till Soifon comes back with news of what's happening, so gettin' all stirred up over the situation won't help any."

Byakuya made a small noise of agreement in the back of his throat, but didn't relax his muscles. He had never been as easy-going as Kyōraku, though that captain took the word 'easy-going' to a new degree entirely, and didn't enjoy sitting idly in situations like this.

"Aaaah," Kyōraku bemoaned over dramatically to Nanao. "All these youngsters are so uptight. It's too bad Jūshirō isn't here right now, he always knew how to take things easy when the time was right."

"You always take things easy, Shunsui-taicho," the vice-captain answered flatly.

"Oh don't be that way Nanao-chan," he said as he waved away her comments. "You make it sound like I'm some sort of lazy slob."

The dark haired shinigami decided not to respond to that comment and silence settled in over the air around her and Kyōraku.

Suddenly, her captain sighed, apparently resigned. "Soifon-taicho sure is taking a long time. I've a bad feeling about this," he said as he looked around, observing all the other shinigami that had gathered upon learning of the alarm's triggering.

Hitsugaya Tōshirō and his vice-captain, Matsumoto Rangiku, stood nearby in the central square. Matsumoto was currently trying to annoy her captain by making false advances on him and it appeared to be very successful.

Behind the pair Soifon's vice-captain, Ōmaeda stood snacking on a bag of food he'd brought along.

Suddenly, an explosion wracked the otherwise deceptively quiet night.

Kyōraku watched alongside the other three captains that had gathered as an entire wing of the sixth dorm was obliterated by a bright blue reiatsu-based attack. One _single _attack.

Of course, that was the the sole wing that Unohana had yet to start evacuating.

"Who would do such a thing," he heard Nanao muttered under her breath, the shattered remains of the teapot lying spread across the ground in front of her.

Shunsui stood, his face serious, still eying the remains of the dorm wing.

"I think you should stay out of this one, Nanao-chan."

The woman nodded absentmindedly, but before anything else could be said, the shattering sound of glass reached their ears.

The gathered shinigami looked up reflexively, finding Soifon, the captain of the second squad, to be falling out of a window three stories off the ground.

* * *

Ichigo stuck his hands in his pockets and casually walked up to the window he'd just knocked Shaolin Fon out of. He lashed out at the wall in front of him and watched in satisfaction as it crumbled to give way to a bigger exit.

He wasted no time in sauntering out of the dorm room and into the open air of the Seireitei, hands still placed calmly in his pockets.

The Primera easily recognized three or four reiatsu signatures that were large and powerful enough to be considered captain level, as well as at least fifty others that were varying in power. He glanced in the directions he felt the stronger sources first.

Kyōraku Shunsui, Kuchiki Byakuya and Hitsugaya Tōshirō. He'd have to be careful around the first two, the third one could be taken somewhat lightly though, if Aizen's knowledge on him was anything to go by.

Of course, Ichigo didn't plan on taking it easy on any of them if they moved to engage him.

He looked toward the final strong reiatsu source, finding one Unohana Retsu staring right back at him. The look in her eyes was severe and her demeanor was rigid. She was obviously angry about something... probably the dorm wing he'd blown to the high heavens.

He cracked a grin and snorted at his own joke.

Suddenly, a streak of lightning passed through the air just in front of him, clearly either a warning or a badly aimed attack.

Ichigo looked down to find Unohana now standing with one finger pointed at him. Aizen had told him about her, she was supposed to be just as strong, if not stronger than Kyōraku and Jūshirō, two of the oldest captains Soul Society had to offer.

Suddenly, the ancient captain held out all five of her fingers towards him and sprouted more lightning bolts from all five.

The Primera moved out of the way of the attack easily enough. Her kidō skills were obviously top notch, but with the distance between herself and her target, they could be easily avoided.

She quickly remedied that though, appearing without a sound right in front of him. Five more bolts of lightning already surging forth from her fingertips.

"_No warning at all," _Ichigo thought as his eyes narrowed.

His figure blurred and appeared behind Unohana, unharmed by her Byakurai. He lashed out at her with a kick aimed at her side.

"Enkosen!"

A shield of condensed reiatsu instantly appeared in front of his attack and took the damage of it without even flickering.

Ichigo grunted in annoyance, retreating a good distance away from the fourth squad captain.

She didn't allow for a lapse in combat though, instead she turned towards him and stretched out her arm in his direction again.

"Raikōhō!"

A large wave of crackling yellow energy shot toward Ichigo with a speed that easily doubled what the Byakurai was capable of. He was forced to use a considerable amount of reiatsu to escape harm this time.

He immediately started to turn around when he reappeared a good distance away, a reiatsu signature dangerously close behind him, but before he could fully face the direction he knew Unohana to be in, his side erupted in white hot pain.

She'd managed to get him with five Byakurai spells, each of which penetrated straight through his weakened hierro.

The Primera spat out some blood and laughed quietly. His right hand reached up to grasp the hilt of Zangetsu.

"Well, Unohana Retsu," he said as he used sonido to put some distance between them. "I've never had to use this on an enemy before, so I suppose you should feel privileged."

"I feel nothing but disgust. Facing a murderer is something I will never feel honored to do."

"Necessary sacrifices, Unohana-taicho, necessary sacrifices," Ichigo drawled as he pulled Zangetsu free of its harness. The bandages that kept themselves wrapped around its blade automatically came free and instead wrapped around his right arm, up to the shoulder.

Immediately the pressure of his reiatsu increased dramatically as the shikai form of Zangetsu started releasing all the spiritual energy that it wasn't capable of storing to instead augment his speed and strength.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, Primera Espada," he said before he disappeared.

Unohana quickly drew her own zanpakutō and held it up above her, blocking the arrancar's attack but forcing her to use two hands to do so in the process.

She pointed a finger at him around the hilt of her blade.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

The fourth squad captain was forced to abort her attack in favor of placing another reiatsu barrier in between her and her opponent's attack. The glowing shield held but as soon as it dispersed she was forced to block Zangetsu again, this time from her side, and got pushed back several feet in the process.

"Byakurai."

Ichigo used his speed to completely avoid the attack and reappear again behind Unohana. He brought Zangetsu up over his head and swung it down with both hands.

The woman had no time to put a barrier in place, so she attempted to block.

The force behind the Primera's zanpakutō was far greater than it was last time though, at least twice as hard to block, she found as the attack shattered her defense and the tip of the blade sliced a shallow cut over her right eye.

She fell back while holding a hand to her wound, thankful that Byakuya moved to engage the Espada in her stead.

"Unohana-taicho," Isane called out to her as she appeared on the ground again.

"That was amazing taicho! You and that arrancar were fighting at levels I couldn't even dream of! It was..." the vice-captain trailed off when she saw her captain holding a hand to her eye.

"Taicho! Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, Isane," Unohana said as she smiled kindly at the tall shinigami. "Don't worry about me, continue attending to the injured. I will join you momentarily."

She hesitated, obviously reluctant to leave her captain without helping to heal her injury.

"I'll be fine," Unohana reiterated softly.

Isane nodded and slowly turned to return to her work on the students injured by Ichigo's Gran Rey Cero.

The fourth squad captain sighed and took her hand away from her eye, revealing it to be whole and well, but a thin scar was present on her otherwise flawless skin. A scar that shouldn't have been there, given her skill in healing.

She glanced up to where the Primera was fighting Kuchiki Byakuya, pushing the oddity that was her injury out of her mind for the moment.

"If there are more like you, Kurosaki Ichigo, then the coming war will certainly be filled with death."

With that, she turned to join her vice-captain in caring for the wounded.

* * *

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

Ichigo watched as the pink sakura petals scattered, knowing that they would form up to attack him again less than a second later, and used the opening to charge at his newest opponent, Kuchiki Byakuya.

He vaguely recognized the family name as that of the shinigami he killed when he first became a hollow. It was obvious his opponent did as well, if the cold look in his eyes was anything to go by.

He swung out horizontally at the captain, watching as the expected shower of pink petals flowed smoothly up to stop his sword in its tracks and immediately lash out at him in retaliation.

The Primera quickly moved away, avoiding the petals as he did so, and watching as they charged at him again.

He sighed.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

The petals scattered again, he darted back toward Kuchiki, only to blocked by more petals.

"This is sorta repetitive, ain't it Kuchiki Byakuya?"

No spoken response answered him, though the pink petals surged at him again.

"Ah well, time's all I need so I suppose it's alright."

"Time?"

Ichigo grinned as he blocked another wave of the annoying little pink shits.

"Yup. Time. My partner needs time to get away, you see."

Byakuya's eyes visibly narrowed. "You have a partner," he stated.

"Yup."

There was confusion in the captain's eyes for a moment before realization struck.

"Who did you take?"

Ichigo grinned a feral grin, his blood lust started to take over.

"Only way I'll tell yah that is if you beat me, Kuchiki-taicho."

Another wave of pink petals hurled themselves towards him.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

The Primera snorted, his taunting grin still firmly in place. "You won't be beatin' me like that, shinigami. Hell, even your sister was more of a challenge than this, and she'd already gotten one of her arms bitten off!"

Byakuya became visibly angered at the jab. The petals surged towards him and instantly reformed his zanpakutō in its sealed stated. He immediately dropped it, blade pointing down, and it dissolved into an invisible surface in mid-air.

"Bankai: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

"That's more like it," Ichigo crowed.

Massive blades suddenly appeared around the battling duo and scattered into millions of tiny pink petals.

The Primera was somewhat disappointed at first, but quickly became excited when they turned out to travel twice as fast as before and had at least twenty times the original amount.

He avoided several tendrils of pink petals while he worked his way closer to Byakuya, but when the man lifted his hand and started to control the attacks with it, he was immediately forced back.

And so it went. Ichigo would dodge and dance around the relentless storm of pink petals while simultaneously trying to get closer to the sixth captain.

He started to grow bored though, when the fight turned out to be exactly the same as when the captain was using his shikai...just faster paced with more things to dodge.

"Let's see if I can't switch things up a little," Ichigo muttered as he bit into his finger. He held up his hand as more petals charged him, quickly channeling reiatsu to his palm.

"Gran Rey Cero!"

The same attack that took out an entire wing of a five story dorm rocketed toward the oncoming mass of deadly sakura petals. The two attacks collided in mid-air, resulting in a massive explosion that actually managed to scatter nearly three-quarters of Byakuya's petals.

The Primera grinned wider when he saw his chance and he used sonido to get behind the sixth captain. He placed both his hands on Zangetsu's hilt and swung the blade down over his head, just as he had when he'd sliced up Unohana's eye earlier.

Byakuya didn't try to block though, he instead used shunpo to take himself out of harm's way.

Ichigo laughed loudly. The sixth captain had indeed avoided his attack, but he'd also placed himself farther away from his sakura petals by using shunpo. The tiny pink things couldn't use it themselves, after all.

The Primera used sonido to appear before Kuchiki and swung Zangetsu at him horizontally, forcing the man back, farther away from his petals.

Abruptly, an ice dragon lanced up between Ichigo and his opponent.

"Looks like this little shrimp just saved your ass, Kuchiki-taicho," he mocked.

The short one bristled at the veiled insult while Byakuya showed no outward sign of emotion.

The Primera sighed. He'd given Harribel more than enough time to get away now, his job was done.

"Well, it's been fun, but I've really got to go find my partner and return to base. Gotta wake up my subordinates at three in the morning for more training, yanno?"

"You aren't going anywhere, arrancar," Hitsugaya stated, a frown on his face.

"Oh?" Ichigo said, an eyebrow arched. "Wanna bet?"

Suddenly, he was gone. His spiritual presence wasn't there anymore and his physical form sure as hell wasn't either. He'd disappeared completely without a sound.

Tōshirō grimaced. "He was holding back."

Down on the ground, Kyōraku looked toward a pale looking Nanao. She'd rightfully been quite shaken from being exposed to the reiatsu levels Ichigo had been emitting.

The laid back captain grinned. "Mah, Nanao-chan, I know the perfect way to put some color back in your skin. All you have to do is join me in my bed tonight and-"

He was cut off upon being hit squarely in the face with one of her many books.

* * *

Ichigo and Harribel silently walked into the entrance hall of Las Noches. The female arrancar was completely unscathed while the Primera had forsaken what remained of his vest after the kidō Unohana had hit him with, revealing his bloodied side.

It was late at night, just past midnight now, so the entire fortress was completely silent. The only thing that could be heard was the tapping of sandals as the Primera and his temporary partner entered the meeting room.

Aizen, as if he'd known they were coming, – something that Ichigo didn't doubt – stood to greet them.

"Ichigo, Harribel. Your mission was a success I see."

The Primera nodded, assuming superiority over the blond arrancar. "Indeed. We managed to get in Seireitei undetected thanks solely to Harribel's planning. We were discovered shortly before we found our target and, to make sure the mission was a success, Harribel made off with Inoue Orihime while I stayed behind as a distraction for the shinigami."

Aizen nodded and turned to Harribel. "Did you run into any trouble while Ichigo was attracting the attention of the nearby shinigami?"

The female arrancar nodded. "I did, but they were no trouble for me to dispatch."

"Good, good," the brown haired shinigami murmured before he turned back to Ichigo.

"What is your opinion, my Primera. What number do you think Harribel deserves in my army?"

The Aspect of Gluttony blinked. "I believe she would be able to stand on level grounds with one of Neliel Tu Oderschvank or Cifer Ulquiorra's power, Aizen-sama."

"My fourth and fifth you say?" Aizen asked, a contemplative look in his eye as he regarded Harribel. "Very well Ichigo, I trust your judgment in this matter."

He turned to the blond at the Primera's side. "Harribel. In twelve hours' time you will duel with Neliel for the fourth position in my army. If you are victorious, you will take her place as my fourth and she will be moved down to fifth. If she bests you, then you will face Cifer Ulquiorra the following day with a similar reward awaiting you should you win."

The blond nodded. "Yes, Aizen-sama."

Ichigo suddenly grew a large grin that threatened to split his face.

His superior looked towards him. "Something you find entertaining, Ichigo?"

The Primera blinked, Aizen's voice bringing him out of his muses. "Ahh, just thinking of how I can use this duel to my advantage in my efforts to train my fraccion."

The brown haired shinigami smiled slightly. "Indeed you can, Ichigo. I've heard you are quite relentless in their training. The other fraccion are either very glad they aren't being put through the same thing or jealous of the efforts you're making."

Ichigo grinned again. "I hope you've found the situation somewhat amusing, Aizen-sama."

"Indeed I have. Remember Harribel, your duel will take place in twelve hours' time exactly twenty miles south of Las Noches. You are dismissed."

* * *

**A/N:** And so the plot thickens...

If any of you are confused about the lack of emotion Ichigo has regarding Inoue, remember that they didn't really become good friends until after the whole Soul Society/rescuing Rukia incident in the manga and anime. Ichigo killed her before that happened, so he's not quite as close to her.

Now for all the questions/comments/concerns/mindless rants I get to answer.

Yeah, if Ichigo trained his shinigami powers to the point where they were the dominant source of his power, then he'd basically become a Vizard. As you said though, it's sorta redundant at this point because if his shinigami powers were dominate then he'd lose the powers he got when his hollow powers were dominate. He'd basically be the same Ichigo he is in the manga, just with a few 'minor' changes, eh? But yeah, no need to worry about that happening here.

Other pairings in this story? I hadn't thought to include any as of yet, outside of the usual interaction between certain characters (ie. Shunsui and Nanao's banter and Hitsugaya and Matsumoto's fake advances).

Also on pairings, I don't plan on writing any real Ichigo/Apache stuff any time soon. The way I'm developing the characters won't allow for that and I know it won't fit into the story right now. Rest assured, it'll happen, and when it does, it'll feel right.

On Ichigo's aspect: You'll have to trust me when I say it'll all become clear why I chose Gluttony for him in the future. For now, busy yourselves with thinking about the strange occurrences that he and others have been noticing with his reiatsu over the past few chapters.

Lotta questions this time...

Harribel was included in this chapter, obviously. Nnoitra has already been introduced and killed, though I don't blame you if you didn't catch it. I'd be impressed if you did though, even more impressed if you realized that Tesla had already been introduced and killed as well.

Yeah, Apache's release takes the rough form of a doe, but writing a doe fighting is awkward and I feel it's better all around if her hollow form was more human like than not.

There were two reviews that confused me. One mentioned something being a broadsword and I'm not sure what that something is. The other referenced the accent marks and how they were awkward. The only thing I could think of there were the accent marks I used to show that one random villager's accent, in which case, yeah it was a bit extreme. I was trying to go for it being awkward to read and for the characters to hear though, so I guess I got it right eh?


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own any of the characters or ideas used in this story, Bleach isn't mine.

**This chapter assumes basic knowledge about the anime Bleach.**

A Hollowed Existence

Apache woke up with a yawn, lying stretched across her spacious bed on her stomach. She scratched at the back of her head, idly realizing that she could see the sun out her window. Ichigo was on a mission and as far as she knew, he wasn't-

Wait, the sun outside her window?

She glanced back to find that she could indeed see the rising sun over the deserts of Hueco Mundo.

"Ahh, a day free from that sadist's reign of terror," she crowed as she fell back onto her bed with a contented sigh. The blue haired fraccion luxuriated in the feel of her silken sheets for a few minutes longer before she decided to get the day started as it always should be.

By spending an hour in the bath, of course.

She grabbed a towel off of her dresser and walked towards the door of her private bathroom to do just that.

* * *

About forty minutes later, Apache walked back into her room, a cloud of steam emerging from the bathroom doorway after her. She stretched languidly, enjoying the way her muscles – which had been pushed to their limits over the past two days by the sadist – stretched and shifted after her bath.

She then put on her arrancar uniform and walked out of her room, sandals tapping on the floor, to head to the common area.

She spotted Sun-Sun first. The green haired arrancar was reading quietly on a window seat on the far side of the room. She had a sleeve covered hand in front of her mouth again, but this time Apache could clearly make out a blush staining her cheeks despite Sun-Sun's best efforts to hide it.

Mila-Rose was napping on the couch in the center of the room, her limbs splayed about haphazardly in her sleep.

"Yo," Apache greeted as she walked into the room.

Sun-Sun glanced up from her book and returned her greeting in her typically soft voice while Mila-Rose let out a particularly loud snore as a response.

Apache cocked an eyebrow. "How long's she been like this?"

Her fellow fraccion shrugged. "She was already out when I came here to read an hour and a half ago."

The blue haired arrancar grinned. "Out cold then," she muttered.

She picked up a pillow, fully intending to use it to suffocate the amazon-like arrancar until she woke up and was already standing in front of her, pillow poised ready to strike over her head, when a familiar voice interrupted her plotting.

"Why is it that whenever I come in here, I find you doing something strange, Apache?"

The arrancar in question jumped and dropped the pillow, which managed to hit Mila-Rose in the face, – accidently, of course – as she turned around to find Ichigo watching her with one of his eyebrows arched in amusement.

"Because you're a sadist," Apache answered as she crossed her arms, satisfied with her answer despite the fact that it made absolutely no sense.

"As long as my 'sadism' helps you grow stronger, I don't care how much pain I put you through."

A groan came from the newly awakened Mila-Rose. "Are we training again?" she whined.

Ichigo grinned. "Yup."

This time the amazon was joined in her groaning by Apache and Sun-Sun, who had taken to wearing the hacked off version of her dress to help keep her cooler as her standard uniform.

"Come on then," the Primera said as he gestured to one of the balcony. "We're going for run."

"A run?" Apache asked doubtfully. "That seems too easy, too simple for a sadist of your caliber."

"Without the help of reiatsu, of course."

"And that's why," the blue haired fraccion deadpanned.

"Oh quit whining," Ichigo said. "I know for a fact that the three of you have improved enough on your reiatsu capacity to be able to use at least three or four additional cero now. That's just after two days' worth of training too."

There was no response to his comment so he jumped down to the desert sands and started jogging south, his fraccion following after him.

"Right now," Ichigo said after jogging in silence for about twenty minutes, "it's eleven in the morning. We need to jog seventeen more miles by noon, so we're going to pick up the pace."

He considered his words for a moment.

"Hell, I'll let you use reiatsu too."

He grinned when he heard all of them sigh in relief.

"_Anything to use up your reiatsu, after all."_

It was about fifteen minutes until noon when the first odd sight reached the eyes of the fraccion of the Primera.

Neliel Tu Oderschvank was using reiatsu to propel herself along in the sky above them, her two fraccion following close behind. She was heading in the same direction as they were and actually landed about four miles – the length that had left to run - ahead of their position.

"Ichigo," Apache started around her panting. "You aren't – gonna make us – fight her – are you?"

"Nah," came the answer from a slightly winded Primera Espada. "I wouldn't do that to you guys."

"The hell you wouldn't!" Mila-Rose spat out.

Sun-Sun and Apache nodded in agreement.

"No I wouldn't," Ichigo stated as he looked back at them over his shoulder. "I'd make you fight me before I went and asked any of the other Espada."

"Fucking sadist," Apache gasped out.

The group fell silent when Barragan rocketed by over head, flying in the same direction they'd just seen Neliel go towards. Three of his fraccion were behind him, trying desperately to keep up with the Tercera Espada and failing miserably at it.

Mila-Rose stared the back of Ichigo's head down. "The hell's going on?" she got out between her panting.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," Ichigo replied with a smile on his face.

"No idea – my ass," Apache muttered.

If Ichigo heard her, he didn't show it. Instead he was looking towards the sky again, watching as a large group of Numeros flew off in the direction that Barragan and Neliel had disappeared in. Grimmjow soon appeared going in the same direction, nearly all his fraccion lagging behind him.

The blue haired Espada managed to spot Ichigo and his fraccion though, so he slowed down and hovered low enough for them to hear his voice.

"They too weak to fly err something, Primera? Bet you regret choosing from the third pit now eh?"

"On the contrary Grimmjow," Ichigo responded, a pleasant smile on his face despite the taunting. "I couldn't be happier with my choice."

He seemed unconvinced and snorted, but returned to his previous height and sped up to join the rest of the spectators heading towards the fight that the entire palace was abuzz about.

"What's going on, Ichigo?" Sun-Sun questioned, her skin glistening with sweat, just like her fellow fraccion.

The fight that everyone knew about, except his fraccion of course. Ichigo had made sure none of the arrancar that knew about it came into his wing this morning, all in a successful attempt to keep Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose and Apache in the dark.

"You'll see when we get there," he said vaguely.

When there was just under five minutes left until noon and just under one mile left to run, Aizen appeared by Ichigo, hovering at the speed he was running with a smile on his face.

"Training them again I see, Ichigo."

The Primera nodded. "I think this'll be a good learning opportunity for them, as well as a chance to further improve their reflexes, Aizen-sama."

The shinigami nodded serenely. "Indeed it is Ichigo. I must admit, you have efficient, if brutal, training methods. Perhaps I should require all the Espada to train their fraccion in this way."

Ichigo knew Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose and Apache were all holding back sarcastic comments and snorts due to Aizen's presence, so he nodded.

"We'll be doing our training today in plain sight of all the other arrancar. I'm sure they'll be able to form their own opinions on my methods then."

"So we've two events to look forward to today then? It should prove to be most interesting," Aizen stated before he picked up his speed and rocketed away over a hill to land somewhere beyond it.

Apache looked clearly disgruntled about being kept in the dark.

"What the hell's going on – Ichigo? Damn near all the Espada – Aizen, Ichimaru and Tōsen – land beyond that hill and we – still don't know why!"

The Primera didn't answer, instead he took to the air and beckoned for his fraccion to follow him up to hover about fifty feet above the ground.

As soon as they saw what was happening over the hill, Apache, Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose started to gape.

Nearly half of the Numeros, well over three-quarters of the Espada and the three shinigami that led the army were all gathered in a group. They formed a rough half circle that opened up into a clearing about two hundred meters wide and, in the center of the open area, was Neliel Tu Oderschvank.

Sudden, a form shot by that Ichigo knew as Tia Harribel.

Apache didn't, however, and voiced her curiosity in the form of a question.

"That," Ichigo said, "was Tia Harribel. A newly transformed arrancar and candidate for the rank of Espada number four."

Mila-Rose's eyes widened. "So all this commotion is over a duel between two Espada level arrancar?"

The Primera nodded happily, his two zanpakutō clanking together with his movements. "Aizen-sama even planned to have the fight out here, so the reiatsu levels wouldn't harm Las Noches."

"And you want us to observe the fight," Sun-Sun said, realization dawning across her face.

Aizen was now heading out to the pair of female arrancar currently standing a good distance from the rest of the chattering crowd. Obviously intending to start the fight.

"That's half of it," Ichigo said.

Sun-Sun eyed him warily. "And the other half?"

"You'll see," he replied as Aizen started the match.

Harribel wasted no time in charging her opponent with a speed that most arrancar found hard to even track. She swung her leg out in a powerful kick aimed at Neliel's head, but the green haired arrancar blocked it without even flinching, immediately retaliating with a kick of her own.

The blond dodged it by jumping back a good distance and shot forward again, this time her fist was cocked back, ready to land a punch in the fourth Espada's gut. It was misdirected towards the ground though, allowing Neliel to land a knee on her opponent's stomach before she could react.

"Apache," Ichigo said, "what should Harribel have done differently to avoid getting hit by Neliel's retaliating knee?"

"Erm," the fraccion said, obviously caught off guard by the question. She'd just been watching the fight, quite awed by the speed the two Espada were fighting at. "Tried to punch her in the face instead?"

"Wrong."

The blue hair fraccion started to turn toward him, intending to 'politely' ask him to state what should've been done instead, but Ichigo's voice cut her off before she could say anything.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

She screeched and dove out of the way of the crescent of blue reiatsu.

"What the hell's-"

"Mila-Rose, what did Neliel just do wrong that ended in her getting her feet knocked out from under her?"

"S-she... should've used a cero to get Harribel away from her instead of her zanpakutō!"

"Wrong – Getsuga Tenshō!"

"You fucking psychopath! How're supposed to watch the fight and dodge-"

"Sun-Sun, what would've been a better angle for Harribel to attack at, the side or above?"

"...side!"

"Wrong!

Getsuga Tenshō!"

* * *

Ichimaru Gin was currently grinning wide enough to bare his teeth and make his eyes become nothing more than tiny slits. The show the Primera was putting on for the gathered arrancar and the duel happening right in front of them were quickly making this into one of the most amusing afternoons he'd ever had.

"Looks ta' me like Ichigo-kun's takin' his fraccions' trainin' seriously."

"Indeed he is," Aizen murmured in response, looking away from the duel for a moment to watch as Ichigo pointed to where Neliel and Harribel were fighting as he yelled something at Apache. Seconds later, he shook his head and a blue crescent of reiatsu emerged from his blade, heading straight for his fraccion. She frantically moved out of the way.

"I like the kid's style," Gin commented as he sat down to watch the Primera go about training his fraccion.

* * *

"Mila-Rose, would a cero have been better to buy Harribel time there?"

"Yes!"

"Good!

Apache, tell me why Neliel just hit the ground in front of Harribel instead of going after her specifically!"

"To force her in the air!"

"Good!

Sun-Sun, how should Harribel have reacted to the cero instead of jumping?"

"Moved to the side."

"Good!

Getsuga Tenshō!"

"What the hell'd you fire at us for, she got it right!"

"I know," Ichigo informed them as he sent two more crescents of reiatsu at them.

"Apache, why did Harribel just attempt to kick Neliel's legs out from under her?"

"The hell if I know you sadist fuck! I can't watch and dodge at the same damn time!"

"You will if you want to live!

Getsuga Tenshō!"

Apache spluttered out insults under her breath, her already taxed reiatsu from the run straining painfully to help her avoid the deadly attack of her superior.

"Mila-Rose, - Getsuga Tenshō! - why did Neliel just put distance between herself and her opponent?"

"Erm..." she muttered as she tried to keep her eyes on the duel while using her senses to dodge the attacks he was sending at her.

"To... buy time to prepare for an attack!"

"Wrong! Getsuga Tenshō!"

Needless to say, she wasn't doing too well at it.

* * *

Grimmjow, sixth Espada and one of the most powerful arrancar alive was rolling around on the sand holding his aching gut. After having watching Kurosaki 'train' his fraccion for the first ten minutes or so of the duel, he'd started to grow bored with the fact that he'd only attack them if they got a question wrong.

Now that he was doing it constantly though, and the way the fraccion were pathetically trying to move out of the way...

He broke down into more roaring laughter.

"Mah mah!" he got out once his laughing had died down. "What if I start to train you guys like that huh?"

His fraccion all paled dramatically, prompting Grimmjow to go into another fit of gut-wrenching laughter.

A large pulse of reiatsu abruptly cut his amusement short though. He looked toward the duel.

Harribel had just fired a cero at Neliel and the Fourth Espada looked to be _eating _it.

Indeed, Grimmjow realized, the green haired arrancar was eating her opponent's cero. Once she'd absorbed all of it in her mouth, she hurriedly applied her own cero to it – Harribel had charged her the moment she realized what Neliel was doing – and fired her Cero Doble in return. Her opponent managed to get to her before the attack was ready though, and landed a solid punch in Neliel's gut that caused the combined attack to go horribly off course... right at Ichigo and his fraccion.

Grimmjow burst into another fit of laughter when he saw the Primera gesture wildly to the extremely fast, extremely powerful attack and his fraccion scrambled to get away from the thing.

The blue haired Espada nearly burst a lung though when he saw Kurosaki actually _catch _the combined cero of Harribel and Neliel and throw it back at his fraccion.

Of course after his fraccion had dodged it, again, the Primera appeared in front of the cero and caught it, again, immediately sending it back at his fraccion while gesturing to the fight happening below.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Grimmjow choked on his own spit.

"This – This guy's a fucking riot!"

* * *

Apache kept her eyes on the fight for as long as she dared, but ended up being forced to turn away when the cero doble that her bastard of a superior had been throwing around got pelted right at her.

"What should Harribel have done to defend instead of using a cero on the ground Apache?"

"Use her legs to keep Neliel away!"

"That's right!" Ichigo said as he hurled the damnable cero doble at Sun-Sun a few moments later, who had failed to get her question right.

And so it went, Ichigo would toss around the cero doble like it was a harmless water balloon and ask questions regarding the battle while his fraccion scrambled around like headless chickens in an attempt to both avoid the ball of death and answer him correctly.

Eventually, they actually managed to get the hang of it.

"Mila-Rose," Ichigo said as he caught the cero doble again. "What would've been a better option of attack for Neliel when Harribel was in the air?"

"A close ranged attack with her zanpakutō!"

"Correct!" he said as he threw the ball where Apache and Sun-Sun were standing.

"Apache, what could Harribel have done to make her attack more effective, Sun-Sun, same question regarding Neliel's defense!"

"She could've used a cero to force Neliel into a better position!" Apache yelled out, panting under the strain of her Espada's newest training exercise.

"Neliel could've used a cero to force Harribel away," Sun-Sun stated, panting just as much as her fellows.

"Good," Ichigo said, his voice quieter than it had been for the last half hour the duel had been going on. He didn't throw the cero doble this time, instead, he turned to watch the fight with it humming gently in his hand.

"Are we... done?" Apache asked, hesitant to allow hope to creep onto her expression.

Ichigo nodded. "For now, yes."

Mila-Rose, Sun-Sun and Apache had just allowed themselves a sigh of relief when a sudden pulse of reiatsu thundered across the barren deserts of Hueco Mundo, putting a very noticeable strain on their weary shoulders.

"Whoa!" Apache grunted as she turned back to the duel, finding that Neliel had released her zanpakutō.

Harribel quickly followed suit, further increasing the pressure on their shoulders until they struggled in their fatigue to simply stand.

They heard a chuckle and turned to find Ichigo grinning at them, tossing the cero doble up and down in his hand like it was a baseball.

Apache, Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose paled dramatically.

"Don't you fucking-!"

He hurled it at them, watching as they practically dove out of the way, their reiatsu straining to match the output their bodies needed to dodge the thing under the pressure of two released Espada.

"Apache! Why is Neliel holding onto her spear instead of throwing it at Harribel?"

"FUCK YOU!"

"Wrong!"

* * *

About a half hour later, the duel was starting to draw to a close. Both contestants were battered and had various injuries scattered across their bodies. They were both panting and sweat was rolling off their skin in buckets.

Of course, compared to Ichigo's fraccion, they looked like they'd just come fresh out of the shower.

They were drenched to the bone in sweat and their eyes were half lidded. Apache was swaying ominously, barely able to stay floating in the air. Sun-Sun, regardless of the fact that she'd shed the entire bottom of her dress, was sweaty enough that her hair clung uncomfortably to her back and she was certain that she'd hear a squishing sound if she rubbed her toes together. Mila-Rose's hair was no longer a dark brown color, it was nearly pitch black due to how wet it had become and her already somewhat loose top was threatening to slip right off.

"Alright," Ichigo said as he extinguished the cero doble and gestured to one of the nearby pillars that dotted the landscape close to Las Noches. "We'll stop here."

His fraccion grinned deliriously and landed with thuds on top of the pillar, immediately stretching out on their backs or, in Apache's case, stomach.

"You're awareness in battle has doubtlessly just doubled, maybe even tripled from what it was before. You should all be proud."

"Righ' now," Apache slurred out. "I'm jus' tired."

Ichigo grinned to himself as he turned to find the duel just concluding.

Neliel had used a cero to toss Harribel back towards the very pillar he and his fraccion were on top of. She then wasted no time in throwing her lance with all her might at where her opponent would land, of course, Harribel caught herself at the last second and flashed towards the green haired Espada, holding her blade at her throat.

The duel had ended, and Harribel had won...but there was still the issue of the lance that was heading straight for the pillar he and his fraccion were on...

Ichigo shrugged. The dangerous reiatsu of the attack shouldn't reach them up here, the pillar would only crumble under their feet... it'd be a good test of their reactions.

Apache and Mila-Rose let out groans when they felt the pillar give way beneath them, but managed to keep themselves in the air, just barely. Sun-Sun, who had been struggling to sit up, actually kept herself in the air immediately after the pillar collapsed.

All three of them looked like they couldn't keep it up though, even for another few seconds.

Ichigo instantly moved in front of Apache just as she fell, allowing her to land softly on his back. She immediately latched on to the source of cold – cold to her, anyway – and moaned softly when the Primera hunched his back slightly to make it easier for her to stay on. He then flashed to where Mila-Rose was just starting to fall and caught her bridal style in his arms. Finally, he caught Sun-Sun in his arms as well, ignoring the grunt his amazon-like fraccion made when she felt her fellow fraccion's extra weight.

"Mah, Primera."

He looked up to find Grimmjow staring at him. His fellow Espada was currently wiping what could only be tears from his eyes.

"Tell me whenever you're gonna train those three again, had to be funniest shit I've ever seen!"

He let out a chuckle that threatened to evolve into a full blown laugh as he recalled what the three fraccion had looked like when they were dodging the cero doble.

"Yeah...funny shit," he said through grin.

Ichigo only smirked and said, "I train them every morning, I don't care if you want to watch."

Grimmjow's grin widened. "Great! I need a good laugh to wake up in the morning..."

With that, the blue haired Espada was off toward Las Noches alongside all the other arrancar, likely to watch Harribel receive her new tattoo and get his own rank changed accordingly.

Ichigo was somewhat surprised. He would've expected Grimmjow to be mad about losing a rank because Neliel had lost.

He shrugged, pushing that thought from his mind.

"Can you hold on, Apache?" he asked quietly.

He received a moan in response and her grip tightened around his neck. He could easily feel the way her chest was pressing into his back through the thin material of her sweat-ridden shirt and he found, much to his surprise, that it was extremely distracting.

Ichigo sighed and pushed that thought from his mind as well, turning to face north as he did so.

"Hold on tight," he muttered as he disappeared at speeds that easily out preformed those any other Espada was capable of in their unreleased form.

* * *

Once Ichigo had deposited his fraccion in their beds in his wing of Las Noches, he immediately started towards the meeting room.

Aizen had called for all Espada to gather, obviously in honor of presenting Harribel with her new number and the demotions of the lesser numbers.

He arrived at the meeting room and, as usual, found that he was the last one to show up. Starrk was smirking at him from his position at the table and oddly spoke up without being prompted to.

"I told Lilinette I was gonna start training her the way you did your fraccion," he said as a lazy grin stretched across his face. "She fell over in a dead faint."

Ichigo returned the grin and allowed an amused chuckle to escape him. "It's certainly effective. Apache, Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose have improved by leaps and bounds since I started putting them through it."

Barragan grunted from his position, obviously angry at something – again. "They couldn't do anything _but _improve at the level they were at, Primera."

Ichigo closed his eyes in annoyance, having to put up with his fraccion screeching at him during his training – something that he figured he deserved – was rather annoying and Barragan's continuous jabs were wearing his patience thin. Hell, even Grimmjow seemed to have stopped insulting his fraccion, if his silence when they were brought up was anything to go by.

"Do you have a problem with my fraccion, Barragan?"

"They're a disgrace to the arrancar, Primera. I find myself questioning your sanity more and more every day; seeing you attempt to train them so that they will be worthy to serve one of the Espada is sickening. They will never be worthy."

Ichigo grunted. "If that's so, then you must also believe your own fraccion can beat them in a three on three duel."

The Tercera let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Of course my fraccion can beat yours' Kurosaki. _One _of my fraccion can beat all three of yours'."

"Very well," the Primera said. "Let's see if that's true. Tomorrow at noon, a mile or so south of Las Noches."

Barragan grinned. "Of course. After that though, Kurosaki, I want a duel with you. I've stood on the sidelines while you've degraded the Espada with your actions for too long. It will end tomorrow."

Ichigo cocked his head. "If you want a duel between the two of us, then we'll have to do it farther away from Las Noches."

"Then we'll fight in the same place the former and new Fourth Espada did," Barragan grunted out quickly.

The Primera nodded. "My fraccion against three of yours' tomorrow at that location, noon. After that, we'll duel."

"Oh my," Aizen drawled from his position at the head of the table. "This has turned out to be quite a day indeed. We will worry about the duels tomorrow later, now we must welcome Tia Harribel as our newest Espada and take care of the following changes in rank her status brings about."

He beckoned Harribel forward. "Welcome, Tia Harribel, Cuarto Espada, Aspect of Sacrifice, to my army. Show me where you would like your tattoo to be placed," he said with a small smile on his face.

The blond Espada walked forward and unzipped her jacket, bearing her mask fragments to the room as she did so. She silently pointed to the inside of her right breast.

Aizen nodded and said, "Sumi."

His fingertip gained a black coating of sorts and he used it to draw a number four in the spot Harribel specified.

He then beckoned Neliel forward. "Neliel Tu Oderschvank, former Cuarto Espada, Aspect of Hesitancy, you are hereby demoted to the rank of Quinto Espada."

Aizen then went about changing the number four on her back to a number five, and did the same with all the lesser numbered Espada with the exception of Arruruerie Aaroniero.

The second to last of the original five Espada and only one to be transformed directly from his gillian form got demoted to the ranks of the Privaron Espada, alongside the former Espada members Dordonii, Cirucci and Gantenbainne.

"Well," Aizen said as he clapped his hands together, "I'm sure you'd all like to rest before tomorrow starts and we witness two more duels of intense power. So, you are dismissed."

* * *

Ichigo stared awkwardly at the plain doorway in front of him.

The Espada meeting had ended nearly a half hour ago and, after having wandered aimlessly through much of Las Noches, the Primera resolved to visit one Inoue Orihime. He knew he'd either be too busy to talk with her tomorrow or forget to do it all together, so he had swallowed his feelings of unease and set off toward her room with a determined gait.

Now that he was here though, he didn't know what to do or how to vocalize what he wanted to say to the girl.

Hell, he wasn't even sure what he wanted to tell her.

Ichigo sighed and irritably scratched at the back of his head. Having to relearn human emotion was definitely not something he wanted to do twice.

Of the feelings he was experiencing he knew guilt was one of the most prominent ones. He was somewhat certain he felt some self loathing for his actions as well, but that made no sense whatsoever, he had only been following his instincts at the time.

The Primera grunted and muttered obscenities under his breath, frustrated by the illogical and confusing thoughts running through his head.

He stood motionless for several more seconds outside the room that held Inoue Orihime, but eventually sighed and knocked rigidly on the plain door.

A moment's pause, then the door opened.

Confused and wary gray eyes stared up at him through the small crack that had been made between the door and the frame. Orange hair, almost unnaturally bright, fell haphazardly about the side of her face that he could see; it was unkempt, likely because of the situation its owner found herself in.

"Kurosaki-kun?" Inoue Orihime murmured uncertainly.

Ichigo nodded rigidly, awkwardly. "I..." he swallowed, "I want to apologize, for everything."

The door opened a little more and one of Ichigo's eyebrows arched up in curiosity. There was a ugly bruise forming on Inoue's cheek, clearly fresh.

"Did Harribel..."

The girl shook her head and laughed awkwardly. "No no, it was some other arrancar girl," she said as she smiled a false smile and scratched the back of her head. "I'm not sure what her name was though..."

Ichigo shook his head, somewhat worried about the fact that he didn't feel any anger over what had been done to the orange haired shinigami-in-training. He had known her when he was alive, hadn't he? Admittedly he had only known her through Tatsuki and the two of them were never really close, but still... Shouldn't he feel _something_?

"Nevermind," he said, interrupting her awkward rambling about who had hit her. "I want to apologize for the night you died, I was nothing more than a beast running on instincts at the time."

Inoue blinked up at him, a blank look on her face. Several seconds passed between them with no words being spoken, but eventually a look of recognition flitted across the orange haired girl's face. "So that hollow..."

The Primera nodded. "That was me."

"Oh," she said as she looked down at her shoes. "Well, it wasn't your fault right? I mean you said you weren't yourself then...so you didn't mean to kill anyone."

Ichigo started to nod, but stopped himself as he fully absorbed her words. There was something that felt off about them, something that didn't feel right to him... but what?

He knew he was feeling guilty for that night so Inoue stating that her death and the deaths of his other friends wasn't his fault should've made him feel relieved... right? Her attempt to comfort him should've helped... but it didn't.

The Primera looked back at Inoue, his eyes blank as a startling realization reached him.

He didn't feel guilty about killing her.

In fact, when he thought about it, Ichigo realized that the only two he felt guilty about killing were his sisters. He only felt sick to his stomach when he thought about how it had felt to end their existences, how it felt to watch as their eyes dulled in death and life left their bodies.

He released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Inoue – sorry," he gasped out as he abruptly turned and walked away.

He didn't feel guilty about killing his friends.

Ichigo swallowed heavily as the thought repeated itself in his mind several times.

He didn't feel guilty about killing his friends!

His feet led him away from Inoue's room and around a corner, back in the direction of his wing.

_He didn't feel guilty about killing his friends!_

"Damnit!" he bit out suddenly, turning to punch the wall next to him as he did so.

None of this made any sense to him!

He was certain he felt some sort of self loathing when he thought about that night. He _knew _he was angry at himself... but if it wasn't because he'd killed his friends, then why the hell did he feel this way?

He turned and walked towards a balcony abruptly, relishing the feel of the crisp breeze of the desert and the heat of the sun.

Suddenly, it all became clear to him.

He had been nothing more than a beast that night. A true hollow that knew nothing but death and hunger, only concerned with where he would find his next kill.

What he had been then went against everything he was now. It went against everything that had changed about him once Zangetsu had come to him.

What he had been that night was the exact thing he had promised himself, and Zangetsu, that he would never become.

He loathed it. He loathed the time when he was a mindless beast, he hated it with every single fiber of his being. That time represented the period of his life as a hollow when rational thought was beyond him and his bond with Zangetsu was weakest.

Ichigo let out a hollow laugh.

That was why he felt the need to apologize to Inoue Orihime. Not because he had killed her. Not because he had kidnapped her.

Because she saw him while he was in such a pathetic state.

The Primera sighed heavily, tiredly as he leaned over the edge of the balcony.

He knew the human thing to do would be to apologize to Inoue for killing her. He knew he should feel guilty about it too, his sense of logic was practically screaming at him that he should feel guilty... but _he didn't._

"Damnit," Ichigo muttered under his breath. Did this mean he was becoming more like a hollow? Could this mean that he was drifting away from what being Zangetsu wanted?

"**Ichigo."**

The Primera started and looked to his right, finding the spirit of his first zanpakutō staring silently back at him.

The dark haired man spoke in his deep voice again, just as slow as Ichigo remembered.

"**Ichigo, you are not a human. You are not a shinigami. And you are not a hollow. I know this and I have accepted it."**

Zangetsu paused and walked closer to him.

"**Do not attempt to force yourself to feel something you do not. To become something you are not."**

Ichigo's eyes narrowed in confusion, before he could speak though, Zangetsu continued.

"**I do not ask that you act like you are a shinigami because you are not. I do not require that you feel the same emotions shinigami and humans would because that is not who you are.**

**I only ask that you remain at peace with yourself; if doing so requires you to accept the influences being part hollow have had on your emotions, then accept them."**

"Because I'm not a shinigami..." Ichigo muttered under his breath as he looked back out over the deserts of Hueco Mundo. Could this be the effect his hollow side had on his emotions?

Zangetsu nodded and faded away, leaving the Primera to sort through his muddled thoughts.

* * *

Ichigo returned to his wing several hours later, his mind at ease after his conversation with Zangetsu, to find that his fraccion were up and walking about like they hadn't been pushed to their limits just five or six hours earlier.

Well, Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun were, Apache was no where to be seen.

"Rest up tonight," the Primera said. "I managed to get you guys a duel with another Espada's fraccion tomorrow, should be a good test of your skills."

Both of them looked up at him, clearly interested.

He shook his head though, much to their disappointment. "I'll tell you more tomorrow when we head to the location you'll be dueling at. Just be sure to get plenty of rest tonight, you'll have to be in top form for tomorrow."

Sun-Sun swallowed and nodded, looking slightly nervous about the prospect of facing another trio of fraccion. Mila-Rose was obviously feeling the same way, even if she didn't show it.

Ichigo yawned, it was already starting to get late, and walked towards one of the balconies that overlooked the desert of Hueco Mundo.

Apache, much to his surprise, was sitting on the railing that outlined the edge of the balcony, her back against a wall and one of her legs hugged to her chest.

The Primera turned around to go back inside and go to a different balcony instead, but the loudest of his fraccion stopped him before he could.

"You don't have to go to a different one because of me, I wouldn't mind the company."

Her voice, he found, was much quieter than he was used to. He turned to face her.

She was staring out over the endless deserts with a blank look in her eye, the leg that wasn't being hugged against her chest dangling freely over the guard railing.

Ichigo silently walked out to the railing and took a seat a few feet away from her, twisting so that he could let both of his legs hang loosely over the deserts below. He leaned forward and started to support himself by placing his elbows on his knees.

"In all the time I've known you, I don't think I've ever seen you this quiet," he said idly, his eyes absently observing the desert at night.

Apache snorted. "Don't get used to it, I was just thinking about the past."

"Are you saying you don't think much?" Ichigo said quietly, a grin on his face.

The edge of Apache's lips quirked up into a half smile, but she didn't respond.

A comfortable silence that the pair embraced readily settled over them. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft murmurs of voices that drifted out from the common area and the sound the wind made when it disturbed the desert sands every so often. A half moon, waining, hung serenely above Hueco Mundo, washing everything in a soft white glow.

"Yanno," Apache spoke up suddenly. "I still remember all my time as an ordinary hollow, before I even became a Gillian. I don't have any memories of my life when I was alive, but wandering around in that damnable forest was something I'll never forget."

Ichigo glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "I haven't figured that out yet, whether or not I'd be better off remembering my life or not. Do you regret not knowing what happened in yours'?"

The blue haired fraccion nodded. "Any memories would've helped me when I first became a hollow. I was completely at a loss as to what I should be doing, the only thing I remember was that thrice-damned eternal hunger that all hollows suffer."

She laughed softly. "Of course, it took me a while to give into it completely, to the point where I started to try and eat other hollows. Eventually though, I found myself fighting for my life in a big group of other hollows...then, the next thing I remember was looking down at the forest floor and being several stories taller than I used to be."

"It surprised me as well," Ichigo said as he sifted through his own memories. "Took me a couple hours to get used to, actually."

Apache laughed again. "It took me several days before my hunger grew enough and I finally gained the will to take control of my Gillian body. I'm not surprised it only took you a few hours though, you were quite the legend in those forests..."

The Primera licked his lips, his face pensive. "When I became a Gillian, I wasn't fighting with any nearby hollows; I was just enraged. I was mad at how calm it was... how mindless the other hollows were."

Silence reigned over the pair for a moment, but eventually she looked over at him with a curious expression on her face. "How long did it take you? To advance to Adjuchas level, that is."

"Two weeks or so," Ichigo shrugged.

"Two weeks," Apache mouthed silently. "It took me nearly an entire year. And then, when I did evolve, I was horribly weak. I had started to lose control of my Gillian body, you see. Lost the will to continue and eat, to survive."

She looked back out over the desert. "But I managed. I spent the first few days trying to get used to being able to walk normally again and hiding from nearly every other Adjuchas in the forest. I wasn't strong enough to kill them, after all.

So my hunger grew and continued to grow until I thought I'd go insane if I didn't eat another hollow. I couldn't though, I couldn't kill a hollow by myself and I'd never be strong enough to unless I absorbed more reiatsu... I was desperate, to say the very least."

Ichigo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. There was moisture in her eyes and she was staring resolutely at her knee, a scowl on her face.

"I was such a fucking weakling," she said, somewhat louder as she punched the railing. "I was helpless, completely fucking at the mercy of other hollows... but they just ignored me, didn't think I was worth the effort."

She abruptly reached up and brushed the tears out of her eyes with her forearm, as if only just realizing they were there. Her breathing had quickened. "But then, I meant two other hollows that were just like me. We could've tried to kill each other and grow stronger...but it wouldn't give us the power we needed to kill normal Adjuchas level hollows. So we stuck together in the forests and started to kill the weaker Adjuchas as a team."

Apache closed her eyes as a half smile grew on her face, memories doubtlessly flashing before her mind's eye. "It worked yanno... we could actually kill normal hollows together, and we split every kill evenly. Our progress was horribly slow, we spent months, maybe even years killing hollow after hollow and spliting the reiatsu and none of us truly felt any stronger.

We were still just as fucking weak as we started out!" she hissed under her breath, punching the railing in anger again. A sob forced its way out of her throat, but she quickly gained control over her emotions again and continued, tears now flowing freely down her cheeks.

"We didn't grow any stronger, no matter what we did. It was like trying to hold water in a bowl that has a hole on the bottom. The reiatsu we consumed didn't stay with us, it didn't make us stronger at all...it just left us. I remember feeling so frustrated by that back then, I was furious that none of us could grow."

Her grip tightened on her leg until her knuckles turned white. "It was so unfair!" she hissed. "All the other hollows killed and absorbed reiatsu, growing stronger while we were left at the pitiful state we started at, forced to work together just to stay alive!"

Neither of them noticed that Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose had quietly come to stand at the doorway to the balcony, listening without a word as Apache recounted one of the darkest times in their lives.

"But then," the blue haired fraccion continued, lifting her head up enough to look at Ichigo. "But then, you came to the forest. All the hollows were buzzing about a newcomer advancing faster than any other hollow had before. There were whispers and rumors of you evolving to an Adjuchas after just a month's time as a Gillian. It was said that you could kill and absorb several hundred hollows each day."

A grim smile appeared on her face. "I hated you. I hated that you could improve so quickly, so efficiently, while Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose and I were all stuck in place, destined to be weak for all of eternity. Of course, that was before we actually encountered you."

"I was ruthless back then, always concerned with where I'd find my next meal," Ichigo muttered under his breath. "Did I ignore you?"

Apache nodded. "Yes. You didn't cast a glance our way, we weren't worth your time. Back then, we were just relieved that we hadn't been killed by you, but shortly after we ran into you, something strange happened."

She paused and licked her lips, making eye contact with him. "We grew."

She swallowed.

"We actually grew stronger. We grew stronger by just being near you."

Apache looked away again. "None of us knew how it happened. We didn't know why you were able to make us grow when no other hollow could, we just knew you could.

So we followed you, or tried to, at least. You never noticed us, our reiatsu signatures were likely too small to even register to you. We watched as you grew stronger and made us stronger as well, it stayed that way for about a month...none of us could really believe it either. We were growing, and it was real."

She laughed a bitter laugh. "After spending so long at the same exact strength, never improving, a single Adjuchas managed to do the impossible. Of course, we soon learned that this Adjuchas was far from normal.

We were there when you advanced to Vasto Lorde, you know. Watching from the cover of the trees... It was amazing, the power you possessed; just as amazing as the fact that you gained it all in under two months. _Two months _to advance completely through the hollow ranks..."

She paused for a moment and sighed. "And then, you were gone. You left the forests and, though you didn't know it, us behind. We stopped advancing and it felt like fate was playing a cruel joke on us. It gave us a taste of power, of what it felt like to grow stronger, and then ripped it out from under us.

Mila-Rose, Sun-Sun and I all settled back into the routine that we'd been going about for years before you came to the forest again, killing hollows in order to just survive. We were stronger than we were before, but certainly not strong enough to kill on our own, so we remained together."

She shifted away from the wall, closer to him, until they were sitting side-by-side. "The three of us never gave up hope that you'd come back to the forest, you know. We were constantly searching for your reiatsu while we struggled to survive, but it never came. It seemed like we truly were going to be doomed to forever remain at the same level of strength again."

Apache licked her lips. "Of course, then your reiatsu showed up in the forests again, but this time it was barely recognizable as yours'. It was strong, overwhelmingly so, and wasn't completely hollow-like... Of course, your reiatsu had never been completely like other hollows', but now it was something else entirely. The three of us went towards your reiatsu, regardless of the fact that there were two other Vasto Lorde nearby; they'd likely just ignore us anyway, we were still so weak."

Sun-Sun moved forward without a word, sitting down on Ichigo's other side with her arms hugging her chest. Mila-Rose walked towards him until she was standing a foot or two behind him, one arm at her side while the other was bent at the elbow and stretching across her abdomen, gripping the other arm's forearm.

Apache continued without hesitation at her fellow fraccion's presence.

"'I am an arrancar,' you said. 'An arrancar. A fusion of the shinigami and the hollow, a hybrid with massive amounts of power under his control,' that's what you told Barragan and Starrk before you disappeared with them just a few moments later. That's all we heard, didn't even know your name."

Ichigo's lips quirked up into a half smile. "No one knew my real name at that point."

"Don't interrupt," Apache chided softly, a smile on her tear stained face regardless of her words. "We never heard anything about you again, never saw any sign that you'd returned either, until word came of a shinigami building an army of arrancar."

She licked her lips again. "Word traveled surprisingly fast through the forests... Within a day or two, every single hollow knew that some man called Aizen was creating an army of hybrids, hybrids that were called arrancar.

The three of us," Apache said, gesturing to her fellow fraccion and acknowledging their presence for the first time. "Went in search of this 'Aizen' because we knew you'd be there as well. You were the only one that could make us stronger, and we didn't want to be stuck in that forest until we were killed by a stronger hollow we couldn't beat."

The blue haired fraccion laughed. "Well, we found the shinigami, we found him just like hundreds of other hollows did. We were thrown into pits and, before we knew it, forced to fight for our lives all over again.

We were down there for almost an entire week before you showed up, Ichigo_-sama_."

He arched an eyebrow, but she continued before he could interrupt. "I don't call you that out of respect for your title. I call you that because you truly deserve all the respect and admiration I'm capable of, that all three of us are capable of. You pulled us out of that forsaken pit just when we were about ready to collapse. You took us to Aizen and made us your subordinates, but you didn't stop there."

She reached out and tentatively placed a hand on his forearm. "You didn't stop there...you made an effort, a real effort to help us grow stronger. And the best part about it, is it's working. You don't treat us like the other Espada treat their fraccion, you didn't just ignore us after you chose us."

Apache's voice started to quiver. "You... you..." she broke off and stuffed her face into her hands, her body trembling with silent sobs.

Ichigo slowly reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. He honestly didn't know just how much his fraccion had been through and what he'd saved them from. He'd always figured that their alliance was something they'd formed upon meeting in the pit and he never would've guessed that they actually came to Las Noches in search of him.

Apache jumped as soon as his hand made contact, but surprised both Ichigo and herself by turning and throwing herself at the Primera's side. Her arms wrapped around him and she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Thank you Ichigo-sama," she muttered under her breath, repeating the phrase like a mantra as she sobbed.

Sun-Sun slowly embraced him from his other side, mutely placing her head on his shoulder as tears silently made their way down her cheeks alongside both Apache and Mila-Rose, who had wrapped her arms around Ichigo's neck from behind.

The Primera smiled softly and wrapped his arms around the figures of Sun-Sun and Apache, turning his head to the side so that he could lay it on top of Mila-Rose's. Unconsciously, he started releasing his reiatsu into the air around him.

At first, there was no visible effect, but once he realized that it was actually calming his fraccion, he started to release more.

Slowly, their tears dried and their breathing became even again. Mila-Rose was the first to pull away.

"We really are grateful, you know, no matter what we say while you're actually training us."

Ichigo nodded silently as Sun-Sun pulled away.

His green haired fraccion was smiling softly.

"I think Apache managed to fall asleep, telling our story must've taken a lot out of her..."

The Primera glanced down at the arrancar in question, finding that she had indeed fallen asleep against his side.

"I'll go put her in her bed, can't have her sore for tomorrow's duel can we?"

Mila-Rose snorted. "You didn't tell her about it did you?"

Ichigo grinned, a playful atmosphere overtaking the solemn one that had surrounded them before. "Nope!"

Both of his remaining fraccion smiled softly as he walked past them, heading toward Apache's room with the blue haired fraccion cradled gently in his arms.

Once she was sure Ichigo was a safe distance away, Sun-Sun spoke up.

"I think the crush is mutual...even if he doesn't know it yet."

* * *

**A/N: **Well, there's chapter 6 for all of you who've stuck around this long. Lots of character development this time though huh? It's a necessary evil, unfortunately, but luckily the next chapter is about 10,000 words of pure action. Fraccion vs. Fraccion, Espada vs. Espada and, of course, the real reason why I chose Gluttony as Ichigo's aspect.

But that's all in the future. Right now it's time to respond to the questions and such reviewers asked me.

First off, yes Nnoitra was indeed the lanky hollow Ichigo killed when he first got Zangetsu. Tesla was the large bull-like hollow that Mila-Rose, Sun-Sun and Apache killed before Ichigo took them out of the third pit.

About the hōgyoku being placed in Rukia only after she got the gigai from Urahara. I always assumed she'd had it inside her since the manga/anime began though I do realize now that I probably should've checked that. Either way, if the hōgyoku was placed in her body/soul after the incident outside the Kurosaki Clinic just consider the fact that she already had it in her another AU aspect to my story.

I thought the correct way to state Ulquiorra's name was Cifer Ulquiorra, however I've always been bad at writing the correct format for his name so any clarification on his point would be greatly appreciated.

Only Mila-Rose's zanpakutō, I've always heard it referred to as a long sword, so that's how it'll be referenced in this fic. Just humor me if I'm wrong eh?

Why Apache/Ichigo? I've always liked Apache's character and disliked the fact that she got killed off, so when I thought up the general plot line for an ArrancarIchigo story I decided to pair him with Apache. The actual romance won't be happening for a while though, as you can see in this chapter Ichigo is still rather confused by all the emotions he has to relearn.

Finally, on the issue of the souls an arrancar consumed being released. I made sure to clarify that only souls who were still alive at the time they were eaten moved to soul society because the souls that were already dead when they died can't exactly go back to being dead again right? (Couldn't think of a better way to word that sentence...) That significantly cuts down the number of souls being released, however that also means Isshin and Rukia won't be making another appearance in my fic... pity too, I kinda liked their characters. Now then, Aizen transformed his Espada over a period of several weeks in my story, so I figured that the amount of souls entering the Rukongai wouldn't be abnormal enough to draw much attention. It's true that all the other arrancar got transformed in a much shorter time period, but they are also much weaker than the Espada and haven't consumed as many souls. I figured their consumed souls entering the Rukongai wouldn't cause much of a stir either.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own any of the characters or ideas used in this story, Bleach isn't mine.

**This chapter assumes basic knowledge about the anime and manga: Bleach.**

**Sorry about the double alert...someone forgot to put all this B.S. at the top in the first version.**

A Hollowed Existence

"A what?!" Apache yelled as she stuck her face in Ichigo's, her eyes burning angrily.

"A duel," he repeated.

"You set up a duel for us and didn't tell me about it! And why don't you two seem surprised?!" she said hotly as she faced Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose.

Mila-Rose shrugged while Sun-sun smirked. "Because he told us about it yesterday."

Apache whirled on Ichigo, who, for his part, looked rather unaffected despite being the focus of the blue haired arrancar's anger.

"You told them yesterday but waited to tell me until five minutes before the damn thing started?!"

"Yeah," the Primera stated plainly. "That's pretty much the gist of it."

"You – you ass hole!" Apache spluttered as Barragan approached the group, three of his fraccion walking behind him. They were all either glaring at Ichigo and the three female arrancar around him or, in Barragan's case, smirking arrogantly with a supreme air about him.

"These are the fraccion I have chosen," the stout Espada said once he had stopped in front of Ichigo.

The Tercera's choices, he had to admit, were well thought out.

Redder Avirama, a man that wore no shirt and had red tattoos decorating his torso. He was an arrancar that was infamous in Hueco Mundo for having little to no restraint at all in battle, he would doubtlessly release his zanpakutō immediately. In short, he was a mindless brute.

Vega Ggio was standing next to Redder, smirking in a manner that Ichigo didn't like. The smallest of Barragan's fraccion was much more calm and collected than his fellow tattooed arrancar and was said to taunt his opponents in battle. He was likely there to get his fraccion riled up and reckless.

The last of the opponents for his fraccion was a blond arrancar by the name of Carias Findor. He was calm, extremely so for an arrancar, and was always collected. His role was likely that of the strategist.

All in all, the Primera was impressed by Barragan's choices.

"I hope," the short Espada continued, breaking Ichigo from his thoughts, "that your fraccion are prepared to lose, horribly."

He turned without another word and walked to the center of the clearing that had been formed by eager spectators. The majority of them were likely there to see the duel that followed after the one between the fraccion, but they still chattered excitedly nonetheless.

"Well," Ichigo said as he turned to his fraccion, studiously ignoring Apache's glare. "Don't rise to any taunts they throw at you, obviously. Redder is known to have very little restraint in battle, Vega will probably be trying to get a rise out of you. Carias is supposedly calm and collected no matter what, what out for that one." He smirked. "Barragan took no chances."

His three fraccion nodded and, after he'd wished them luck, Ichigo left to observe the fight alongside his fellow Espada.

"Carias first then?" Mila-Rose said as soon as Ichigo had left.

Apache grunted, a scowl on her face, and Sun-Sun nodded before muttering: "Ideally, I have a feeling he won't be the easiest to get rid of though."

"Ichigo-sama said Carias was calm and collected, if we get that fucker out of the way they'll fall apart," Apache muttered somewhat absentmindedly, half-preocupied with trying to glare a hole through the Primera's head. "I'll bet he's told his partners not to get separated err some shit."

Sun-Sun smiled as she watched Barragan's fraccion with an observant eye. "They aren't used to fighting together. Carias is trying to control Redder and Vega looks like he wants nothing to do with either of them."

Any further planning and discussion was cut short as Aizen appeared between the two parties.

He had that eerie smile on his face as he addressed the fraccion. "Killing fellow arrancar is allowed in duels, but I ask you to try and avoid it. There is no time limit. A winning side will be determined when all members of a party are either incapacitated or dead."

He paused to let the tension that had settled over the area stretch on. "Begin!"

"Tsukiagero, Cierva!" shouted Apache.

"Kuichirase, Leona," stated Mila-Rose.

"Shimekorose, Anaconda!"

Sun-Sun's body immediately lengthened and developed scales down her front, taking on a form vaguely similar to a snake. Her hair clip-like mask fragments grew and formed a helm of sorts that covered the right side of her head. Once her transformation was complete she wasted no time in burrowing straight into the sands of Hueco Mundo.

* * *

"Oh?" Ichigo muttered as he looked on. "I didn't know she could do that..."

"Doesn't matter what they do," Barragan grunted from nearby. "They'll be beaten in the end. I've chosen a team that cannot lose; three hollows from the third pit will be child's play."

The Primera didn't respond, instead watching as Mila-Rose, now more amazon-like than ever in her released state, and Apache, who had taken on the appearance of a deer that could stand on two feet with a human face and hands, charged at their opponents.

Redder had, just as Ichigo predicted, released his zanpakutō immediately and started firing feather-like projectiles from the red wings he'd grown at Apache and Mila-Rose. He was a good distance from his teammates as well, probably completely unaware or simply uncaring of that fact.

* * *

"Oi! Dumb fuck!" Apache yelled at the irrational fraccion that was currently trying to pelt them with razor-sharp feathers as strong as steel. "Is this all you can do? I'm disappointed!"

"I'll kill you! You're gonna be like swiss cheese when I'm through with you! Swiss cheese!"

Apache ignored the insult and instead started to work on getting him to turn away from Mila-Rose. Vega and Carias had given up trying to get Redder to retreat so they could plan and were now rushing to aid their fellow fraccion.

"Too late!" she yelled victoriously as she quickly charged and released a cero from the center of her mask fragments, turning just in time to side step Vega's zanpakutō when he reached her.

Mila-Rose, who was now behind Redder, watched as the hotheaded arrancar avoided the cero shot at him fairly easily. By the time he saw her though, she was already behind him, having used his lapse in concentration to her advantage.

She swung her zanpakutō out at the arrancar's right wing, slicing about half the thing to bloody shreds before being forced to avoid retaliatory bala fire from Carias as he arrived to help his ignorant partner.

The damage was done though, Redder yelled angrily as he momentarily lost altitude. He was close enough to the ground now. It'd be over for him before he knew what happened.

Indeed, just as the man was splitting his wings into four separate parts, his back was hit by a cero that appeared to have blasted out of the ground itself.

"Fool!" Carias spat from where he was fighting off Mila-Rose. He was just barely managing to keep her at bay, due to the fact that she'd released.

"The one in the ground you imbecile!"

Redder turned just in time to see Sun-Sun burst out of the ground and launch two hissing snakes from her sleeves, poised to strike at the bird-like arrancar.

He didn't stand a chance in his wounded condition, especially against projectiles that could move _with _his attempts to evade.

The snakes latched onto him, one coiled tightly around his upper body, completely destroying any agility and speed his wings gave him, while the other lunged at his neck.

Redder yelled angrily and, in a large burst of red reiatsu shaped like feathers, abruptly destroyed the snake that had wrapped around his middle. His delicate wings were broken and battered, but he managed to knock away the snake that was heading for his neck regardless.

"I'll kill you bitch!" he spat at Sun-Sun as she drew near him. He quickly fired a cero at her, watching with annoyance as she smoothly flowed around the attack and returned fire with a pink cero of her own.

He beat his wings to avoid it as best he could and managed to side step it at the last moment, by the time he'd turned back to Sun-Sun though, she was in his face with another cero charged and fully ready to be fired.

Redder screeched in rage and lashed out with his talons, ignoring the cero in his face. It proved to be his last mistake.

Avirama Redder's entire torso was engulfed in the volatile reiatsu produced by Sun-Sun's attack. She herself received only two slash marks across the scales covering her chest, but compared to her opponent's condition, she looked completely untouched.

"Redder's done for," she stated loudly enough for both Apache and Mila-Rose to hear, not even flinching when the two of them used sonido to appear on either side of her, disengaging from their opponents for the time being.

"The hell are you running for," Vega called out as soon as he'd relocated Apache. "His majesty isn't here to watch cowards!"

"Vega," Carias said flatly. "Release your zanpakutō."

Without bothering to wait for any response, the blond spoke his release command.

"Minamo ni Kizame, Pinza Aguda."

He immediately grew a large pincer-like claw in place of his right arm and his body transformed into the rough shape of a crustacean. A fragile looking mask covered most of his face, leaving only the lower half uncovered.

"Whatever" Vega scoffed as he held his own zanpakutō out in front of him.

"Kuichiguire, Tigre Estoque!"

The smallest of Barragan's fraccion grew square blades that protruded from the backs of his wrists. A hollow bone helm shaped like the skull of a saber tooth tiger appeared over his head and a long tail sprouted out the back of it, another square blade at the tip.

"Hah!" Vega chortled once his transformation was complete. "You should've taken us out when you had the chance. Now that we've released you won't last three seconds, third pit scum!"

The tiger-like Espada immediately charged the fraccion of the Primera, ignoring Carias' call to stop.

He went after Mila-Rose first, jabbing the blades on his wrists at her with a level of speed and strength that quickly had her on the defensive.

Apache moved to help, but she was stopped by a short chain of bala.

"Well," Carias said, "I suppose I'll have to make the best of the situation, since my fellow servants of his majesty are acting as though they are not capable of rational thought."

"Fuck you, Carias!" Vega spat as he glanced back at the blond.

Carias sneered at him as he reached up and began chipping away at his mask. He was forced to stop though when Sun-Sun and Apache fired their cero at him simultaneously.

A quick sonido later and he was suddenly behind Apache, swinging out at her head with his massive claw-like arm.

The blue haired fraccion leaned to the side, avoiding the blow entirely, and swung her leg out at his torso. He jumped backwards, out of her range, only to find Sun-Sun behind him, two snakes bursting forth from her sleeves.

Carias grunted in annoyance when his attempt to side step the attack was foiled, the snakes just turned with his motion, and the reptiles latched onto his smaller arm. Before he could do anything else, Apache was at his side, fist cocked for a devastating blow to his head.

The blond roughly tore his arm away from the snakes and used sonido to move away. Upon doing so, his opponents turned to Vega and began pushing him back, offering Mila-Rose a much appreciated break.

"We need to separate them," he muttered as he started charging a cero on the tip of his pincer. He fired it toward his opponents as they pushed Vega back farther and watched, with no small amount of annoyance, as they all moved to dodge his cero at the last second and quickly grouped together again after the threat had passed.

Carias grit his teeth together, reaching up to remove the majority of his mask. A burst of reiatsu pulsed outward from his body, but it did nothing to distract Apache, Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun from beating back Vega.

His fellow fraccion was currently being overwhelmed by the combined assault of all his adversaries, he was almost always off balance. His face was set into a permanent scowl, likely due to the fact that three fraccion from the _third _pit were beating three of Barragan's own, rather easily too. It was utterly embarassing, that arrancar transformed from hollow with as much reiatsu as a normal human being were beating them.

Carias grit his teeth and used sonido, the static sound instantly alerting his opponents of his presence behind them.

Immediately, Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun broke off their assault and turned to face him, cero already charged and firing from their mouth and sleeve respectively.

"Gotta take care of him quickly," Mila-Rose muttered, only slightly winded despite weathering Vega's initial assault for nearly two minutes straight.

"Get him to land," Sun-Sun said as she maneuvered herself into a position above Carias and went about assaulting him with a barrage of physical blows. He deflected or dodged them without too much trouble, counter attacking when he could, but as soon as Mila-Rose starting darting in whenever his back was turned, he quickly found himself on the defensive.

They attacked in tandem. When one would falter and he would attempt to use the opening to take them out of the fight, the other one would suddenly be in his way, smoothly keeping his attack from being successful and then joining back in on their double team effort against him.

Slowly, he was forced closer and closer to the desert surface. He was desperate for assistance at this point, but he knew Vega would require much more time to dispose of his opponent than what he had. If only they'd falter for just a moment... then sonido would be possible for him; as it was though, they were attacking too consistently, too quickly for him to even concentrate enough to use it.

Carias cursed when his feet hit the ground and he saw the snake-like arrancar dive underground again. He immediately jumped up into the air, but was forced to land again when Mila-Rose fired a cero just above where his head was.

Two snake heads burst from the sand and started to wrap around his legs.

Mila-Rose went unnoticed as she rose to a higher altitude and started hovering in the direction where Apache and Vega were fighting.

Carias spit out another curse under his breath as he tried to beat the snake off of him using his giant pincer. If only that idiot Redder hadn't gone and gotten taken out so easily!

Abruptly, the snakes withdrew back under the sand.

The blond wasted no time in using sonido to move away from the surface, turning around just in time to watch as Sun-Sun's tail erupted from the sand and lanced through the spot he'd just stood in.

Carias sighed in relief; but suddenly his tunnel vision, which had been increasing in severity ever since he'd been trapped by the snakes, faded away.

He twisted around just in time to take Apache's cero directly to his face.

She'd been fighting Vega! Did that bastard die already?

Carias glanced over, half blinded, to find that he was still alive, he was just fighting Mila-Rose now.

Apache abruptly appeared in front of him with a violent burst of static. She landed a powerful kick to his midsection before he'd recovered from the cero that sent him rocketing toward the sands below.

He impacted them with a dull thud and lay there dazed for a moment. The lapse in combat didn't last long for him though, two familiar snakes suddenly burst out of the sand and quickly wrapped him up tightly within their coils

Carias tensed, expecting an attack from above, but he quickly realized that Apache had moved to help Mila-Rose in fighting off Vega. He jerked his pincer-like arm about to see if he could loosen the snakes any.

No such luck.

The thought suddenly registered in his head that Sun-Sun was still in the ground, likely below him now.

The other two were fighting Vega...

Then that meant...

His eyes widened.

Below!

A pink cero suddenly burst out of the sand in a blazing wave of violent reiatsu, reducing Carias' body to nothing more than a thoroughly burnt husk of what it once was.

* * *

Ichigo grinned from where he was watching his fraccion take down three of Barragan's while hardly even breaking a sweat. Individually, they would obviously lose, but when they worked together, they could probably keep a lower ranked Espada preoccupied for a short amount of time.

The Tercera's choice in fraccion had been formidable, that was true. But he hadn't expected the Primera's to actually work together; not at the level they were capable of, anyway.

If Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose and Apache hadn't attacked and defended in tandem then they would likely be the ones lying defeated in the sand, lured into attacking by Vega and Redder while Carias kept them under control as best he could. As it was though, they had proven themselves to be more than capable of handling the Tercera's fraccion.

Speaking of Barragan, he was now staring coldly at the beaten bodies of Redder and Carias.

"Aizen-sama, if these arrancar of mine survive this battle, they will no longer be considered my fraccion."

The brown haired shinigami nodded, sending a distracted glance toward the elderly-looked Espada. "If that is what you wish, Barragan. You have the authority to dispose of your fraccion, after all."

The Tercera nodded. "They have insulted me for the first and last time."

Ichigo decided to stay quiet, his observations on Barragan's choice would only cause him trouble, after all. The idea that arrancar could truly work together as a team, in something more than an alliance, was an idea that didn't register with Barragan. For that, the Primera was grateful.

If it did, then his fraccion would've been defeated.

* * *

Vega Ggio leaned away from the kick Apache had sent at him and moved to attack her with impressive speed once it had passed. It would have landed well before she recovered enough to block or dodge, but a snake's head lunging at his arm stopped his attack and forced him away from the now recovered Apache.

Mila-Rose was waiting behind him, already swinging her zanpakutō at him when he turned around.

Vega jumped away from his opponents, his speed and agility easily superior, but quickly found that they wouldn't allow him any time to gather himself. The trio each fired a cero that combined into one in mid-air, singing his hair as he ducked down to avoid it.

He yelled in frustration, even as Apache and Mila-Rose engaged him again while Sun-Sun appeared above him, her snakes closing in on him swiftly.

"Fuck this shit!" he spat as he used sonido, immediately firing the teeth on his mask at his closest opponent, Apache, which forced her back temporarily. He then thrust the blade on his right hand up to the sky.

"Tigre Estoque El Sable!"

His muscles bulged grotesquely and the blades on his hands grew to overtake his forearms up to the elbow. His clothing turned from its white and black state to a brown and black state and blond fur grew around his neck and the places where the blades meant his arms. He ended up being nearly twice, maybe three times his original size.

The reiatsu levels in the area flared as Vega finished his transformation, increasing to that of a lower leveled Espada.

Mila-Rose glanced warily at her opponent, Apache and Sun-Sun blurring into existence on either side of her.

"This could be bad. His reiatsu levels just went insane," Apache muttered.

"His body is huge..." Sun-Sun muttered, a disgusted grimace on her face. "Almost to the point where he can barely move his arms at all due to all the muscle.

Suddenly, Vega disappeared with a burst of static.

Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose and Apache scattered when he appeared behind them and swung one of his blades down at them, quickly forming up again a good distance away from him.

They took a moment to compose themselves and charged at him as one, Apache, being the most agile of the three, led the attack in the middle while Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun each took up positions on her sides.

Apache reached him first and flowed smoothly around his attempt to cut her in half, landing a solid punch straight to the thing's gut, only to find the bones in her hand crack upon the impact.

"Shit," she muttered as she pulled back. Suddenly, Vega's knee was in her stomach, dealing her a crushing blow and forcing the air out of her lungs.

She gasped and spat out the blood that had gathered in her mouth when she bit into her tongue. Before Apache could move though, Vega slammed one of his elbows down on her back with a howl of rage – his other arm had just been cut off cleanly at the elbow by Mila-Rose's zanpakutō – effectively sandwiching her between the rock hard muscle of his knee and his arm.

He let her fall to the sands below as he turned to deal with the other two fraccion but immediately found that Sun-Sun had fired a cero at him. It hit him squarely on the vulnerable flesh of his face.

Vega screamed blindly, barely noticing when his other arm got hacked off by Mila-Rose, and started thrashing about recklessly. His existence was abruptly brought to an end though, when Sun-Sun used one of her snakes to latch onto his throat and viciously tear out any material it could get its fangs around.

* * *

"The fight is over," Ichigo stated. Aizen nodded silently in agreement, a gesture that was all the confirmation the Primera needed to go and tend to his fraccion.

He appeared next to where Apache had fallen after being brutally demolished by Vega when he was nothing more than a mindless berserker.

She looked battered and her midsection had certainly seen better days. Consciousness hadn't left her though, so Ichigo was sure to be more gentle than usual when he picked her up. He hooked one of his arms under her knees and supported as much of her back as he could with the other.

She moaned softly as soon as she felt herself being moved and unconsciously fisted one of her hands in his vest. Her midsection _fucking hurt_.

Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun, back in their unreleased forms, landed next to him as he turned to walk steadily, carefully back toward the gathered arrancar.

"Is she gonna be alright," his amazon-like fraccion asked immediately.

Ichigo nodded. "She'll be fine, should be back to normal by tomorrow morning, just in time for more training," he finished softly, a grin pulling at the edge of his mouth.

Apache managed a groan out of her bloodied mouth. "Fucking sadist," she muttered weakly.

"Quit whining," Ichigo shot back as he walked over to where the healers were waiting. There would be no saving Barragan's three fraccion, so they had been left with absolutely nothing to do.

The Primera set Apache down on one of the makeshift cots the healers had set up and fully intended to wait by her side until she was well again, but Barragan's voice addressed him not thirty seconds later.

"Primera," the Espada spat as he roughly took his zanpakutō from his remaining fraccion. "We have a duel to fight, stop wasting your time on that lowly _bitch_ and prepare yourself."

Ichigo shook his head. "No. I'll wait until I know she's going to be fine."

Murmuring broke out amongst the gathered arrancar. Not only had the Primera outright denied the Tercera in front of over half of all Aizen's army, but he did so out of worry over his fraccion. The impression they had gotten yesterday was that he didn't care whether or not his fraccion died, if his training method was any indication, but after having seen him carry Apache so delicately and then refuse to move from her side until he knew she'd be fine...

It was unheard of.

Barragan grit his teeth, viciously beating down the urge he had to use a cero on the Primera and his fraccion regardless of who it killed, so long as it would get him to fight!

"Ichigo-sama," one of the healers said quietly. "Your fraccion will be fully healed and capable of fighting in just a few minutes. We have healed her injuries and are now replenishing her stores of reiatsu."

He nodded and bowed to them, causing the murmuring to escalate to increasingly higher levels.

"Thank you," the Primera said before he turned to Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun.

"You've made me proud," he said simply before he turned to go face Barragan a safe distance from the rest of the arrancar.

* * *

Barragan was stewing silently when Ichigo landed across from him, his massive axe-like zanpakutō slung casually over his shoulder. He didn't say anything, too busy fuming in rage at what the Primera had put him through.

Ichigo smirked in satisfaction. Today he would put to rest any doubts the arrancar held over his position as the strongest Espada in Aizen's army. He would show them why he was able to keep pace with captains without even drawing his zanpakutō, he would show them just what he was capable of.

He would show them just how much of a gap between his powers and their own there was.

"Are the two of you ready?" Aizen asked pleasantly, as if he wasn't about to start a duel between two of the most powerful beings in his army.

Barragan nodded rigidly.

"Yup, let's get this started, Aizen-sama," Ichigo drawled around his girn, nonchalant.

"Very well," the shinigami said before pausing a brief moment.

"Begin!"

Barragan charged the instant the shinigami shunpo'd away, kicking up sand in his wake and roaring out a battle cry as he heaved his massive axe at the Primera.

Ichigo, for his part, stood perfectly still and started channeling reiatsu to his hand. He was here to prove a point, not win the fight.

He braced himself as the axe bore down upon his head and raised a hand to block it.

The weapon impacted his skin heavily, disturbing the reiatsu in the air around the two fighters. He grunted in discomfort, but kept his footing solid.

The zanpakutō was stopped cleanly and completely.

The Primera then quickly moved towards Barragan and swung his leg out at the shorter Espada, catching him squarely on the jaw and sending him tumbling away.

* * *

"Hah! Barragan's in way over his head, the idiot," Grimmjow chortled from where he was observing the fight alongside Aizen, Ichimaru, Tōsen, Starrk, Harribel, Ulquiorra, Szayel and Yammy.

"His majesty hasn't gotten serious yet! You'll see," one of the Tercera's remaining fraccion responded hotly.

Grimmjow waved off his comments, a patronizing smile on his face as he made to respond, but he was beat to it.

"Ichigo-sama won't lose," Sun-Sun stated plainly. "He isn't even paying attention right now, he's glancing at Apache to make sure she's alright."

Any retort to the Primera's fraccion was cut off when Aizen spoke up, his voice soft. "He _does _seem to care for the three of you quite a bit, doesn't he?"

Sun-Sun looked down as a show of submission. "Yes, Aizen-sama."

"You'll see," Parduoc Nirgge said quietly as he watched Barragan slowly stand up. "His majesty will beat the Primera. Those who show such an amount of caring for his subordinates are destined to die a pathetic death!"

Apache, newly healed, bristled visibly at the insult. "You wanna say that about Ichigo-sama again lard ass?! He'll wipe the floor with _'his majesty'_."

Choe Neng Poww, another one of Barragan's subordinates, snarled at Apache. "Barragan-sama is nothing short of a god, foolish low life! He is power incarnate, the Primera doesn't stand a chance in hell."

Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose made no move to stop Apache as she turned on the newest of her targets. They respected Ichigo a great deal and, while they weren't quite as mad as their fellow blue haired fraccion, witnessing the Tercera's fraccion get verbally beaten to a pulp was something they weren't opposed to seeing happen.

"Talk all the shit about that old fuck you want! The only thing god-like about him is his over-fucking-sized ego!"

Poww growled low in his throat and approached Apache until he was standing right in front of her, towering well over six feet above her head. "Your _Ichigo_ is trash unfit-"

He grunted and suddenly lurched forward, courtesy of the foot Apache had just rammed between his legs.

"Barragan doesn't stand a motherfucking chance!" she fumed, her voice growing louder as her anger increased. Unfortunately for her, it was loud enough that the Tercera himself managed to hear her.

* * *

Ichigo sighed interally upon seeing his fraccion get into a fight with Barragan's.

"_This won't end well... Apache still has shit for control over her emotions and Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose aren't doing anything to stop her."_

At that point the Primera noticed Barragan moving in the corner of his eye. He turned to where the stout Espada had landed after being kicked to find the man making deliberately slow movements to pick himself up off the ground.

"You've disgraced the Espada long enough, Kurosaki," the elderly looking arrancar said under his breath.

"Kindness and compassion have no place amongst hollows, no matter how human they look. Such emotions lead to bonds, and bonds are prime targets for the enemy to use against you. It is why hollows will never die out, we do not care for emotions."

"If you say so, Barragan," Ichigo idly replied as he watched Apache spit out more insults, if the look on her face was any indication.

The Tercera snarled and continued his slow walk back to his opponent. Around half way there though, the Espada's eyes narrowed dangerously and his reiatsu fluctuated wildly for a moment.

Ichigo tensed, but as soon as he saw Barragan turn in the direction of his fraccion before disappearing with a static sound, he knew what was happening.

"_Barragan!_" he roared, anger and fear for his fraccion evident in his voice. He quickly reached up and grasped the hilt of Zangetsu, releasing the reiatsu that came with it even as his figure blurred out of existence with a sharp sound of static. The considerable amount of reiatsu he couldn't store in his blade augmented his expertise with sonido to levels that allowed him to appear in front his fraccion well before Barragan's sonido even reached them.

The air he displaced upon arriving crackled angrily at having been disturbed so abruptly, but Ichigo ignored it. He held Zangetsu out in front of him, blocking the strike from Barragan's axe that came not even a split second later.

The Primera grunted and, with a heave of Zangetsu, broke the Tercera's guard. He wasted no time in hurling himself forward and thrusting his knee into the elderly arrancar's stomach, sending him sprawling across the desert for the second time in the duel.

Ichigo growled deep in his throat. This was no longer just a fight to prove his superiority over the other Espada. This was an _execution._

"I apologize, Aizen-sama. You'll have to find a new Espada when this duel is finished," he stated flatly, his voice carrying the intent behind his statement clearly to the surrounding arrancar.

Without waiting for a response, Ichigo reached up behind him and grabbed the hilt of his second zanpakutō, which was still unnamed.

He turned and offered it to Apache.

"Hold on to this for me, it will be troublesome to carry it around in the form I'm going to take."

The blue haired arrancar accepted the weapon silently, an awed look on her face. He figured it was likely a combination of seeing the skill he'd displayed to save her from Barragan and the fact that he actually allowed her to hold one of his zanpakutō.

Of course, the fact that it was actually almost as tall as she was didn't seem to register with Apache.

Ichigo unintentionally drew all the observers eyes back to him when he held Zangetsu out in front of him, pointing straight ahead. The bandages wrapped around his arm tightened visibly and the reiatsu-thick air started reacting to something, something that the Primera was standing at the center of.

The wind picked up abruptly, tossing sand about to the point where most arrancar held their hands to the sides of their heads to block the annoying particles while trying to keep an eye on what was causing the disturbance. Debris from destroyed pillars shifted and tumbled across the ground, throwing up large amounts of sand, and dust started to coat everything in the immediate area.

Aizen, for his part, remained silent as he watched, his smile just a bit larger than normal.

"This, Gin," he said upon seeing the white haired man frown. "Is the Primera."

The wind suddenly started howling and picked up speed as the reiatsu in the air was disturbed more, mimicking the energy's motion and rocketing toward Ichigo. It grew in intensity and actually started to swirl around him, forming a small tornado, at the center of which the Primera stood undisturbed.

And then, it stopped. The pressure that used to be an oppressive weight on the spectators' shoulders vanished completely.

The wind died down, allowing the sand to fall back to the desert floor and the reiatsu stopped churning in the area surrounding the arrancar. The air was dead, utterly and completely devoid of reiatsu and any movement whatsoever.

It was certainly a disturbing feeling, dead air.

And at the center of it all stood the Primera Espada.

His figure was audibly humming with all the reiatsu he had taken in, stored up to immense levels, _titanic __levels_. All of it was moving about restlessly, awaiting any action that would use their strength.

Ichigo slowly released a breath, focusing intently on the energy built up within Zangetsu.

"Bankai!"

* * *

The reactions amongst the spectators were quite mixed upon hearing the Primera's exclamation.

Many of them reacted with shock, followed by alarmed mutterings of 'shinigami' and 'betrayer'. Others reacted with amazement, gaping openly at the power displayed before them.

Aizen's smile grew into a vicious smirk and Ichimaru Gin's usual grin returned to his face twice as strong as it had ever been before. Tōsen frowned initially, but upon seeing that Aizen hadn't become concerned, allowed his frown to give way to a neutral expression.

For the most part, the Espada expressed blatant interest in the fight, though Grimmjow was clearly eager to see what the Primera was capable of as well.

"His shinigami side," Apache muttered absentmindedly as the dust around Ichigo started to clear. She was now supporting herself on his other zanpakutō due to the fact that the reiatsu discharge had been too much, too powerful for her to stand on her own, especially at such close proximity.

Sun-Sun pushed herself back up to her feet, mouth behind her sleeve again, eyes focused on the figure that she knew was Ichigo in the remaining sand that was falling to the ground.

Mila-Rose opted to stay on her knees, unwilling to possibly miss even a half second of what was occuring before her should she try to stand up.

A pulse of reiatsu was released from inside the cloud.

* * *

Ichigo breathed in deeply, reveling in the feeling of power that Zangetsu's recently discovered Bankai provided him with. The blade was humming contentedly with condensed reiatsu at the moment, reiatsu that would constantly be released throughout the fight to augment his agility and his strength.

His Bankai surely didn't look intimidating, but those that could sense the reiatsu radiating off the blade knew how dangerous the fight had just become.

He allowed a fraction of the reiatsu contained inside Zangetsu to escape, stilling the air around him instantly. The reiatsu that he'd been releasing unconsciously throughout the fight wasn't even there anymore, all of it was packed tightly into his blade and not a sliver of it would escape unless he willed it.

"Tensa Zangetsu," he stated, holding the rather normal looking black blade in front of him just as he'd been doing before he used his Bankai. His clothes were also exact replicas of what the typical shinigami wore, the only differences being that the outfit was less bulky and more form fitting, as well as the fact that the top extended down into a half-cloak, half-cape of sorts.

Half hearted chortling was heard from somewhere in the crowd of spectators, but Ichigo ignored it, focused solely on Barragan, who was staring at him with something akin to respect in his eyes.

It didn't matter now though, not even if it turned to admiration.

The Tercera's fate was sealed.

Ichigo moved.

A cloud of sand burst up from the ground where his after image was located, courtesy of the reiatsu that had been released from his legs to make his charge even faster.

The Primera himself was suddenly in front of Barragan, blade cocked and ready to deal a devastating blow. His opponent hurriedly brought up his axe to block, but such a large weapon could only be moved so fast.

Ichigo gouged a cut across the Tercera's chest, straight through his hierro, and was gone just as quickly as he appeared.

The only thing left behind for Barragan to slice in half was a mere after image.

More sand was kicked up.

Then, Ichigo was behind him, swinging out with Tensa Zangetsu.

Barragan growled low in his throat when he felt another blow land on his back, followed instantly by another to his chest and one more to his thigh. The Primera was fast, too fast for him in this form.

He used sonido to put some space between him and his opponent, but he only had a split second's time to breathe before Ichigo was upon him again, attacking faster than he could block. His hierro was too strong, especially in Hueco Mundo, to land a fatal blow on in one hit, but at this rate...

He caught a flash of orange to his left and focused intently on it.

Suddenly, the flash he'd seen before became Ichigo in the process of attacking him, except this time the attack was slower, much slower.

Barragan heaved his axe at a Primera's head, but he used sonido to instantaneously move himself out of its impressive reach.

The Tercera grumbled under his breath. It had always been an annoying aspect to his powers over time, the fact that he couldn't effect sonido or shunpo with it. They didn't have a timed duration to slow down, they happened instantly.

Ichigo disappeared again, reappearing this time behind the shorter Espada. He swung Tensa Zangetsu as Barragan was turning around and managed to land a glancing blow before his attack got slowed down, forcing him to sonido away.

"Time," he said as he landed on the sand again. "Such an impressive power, to control how fast something moves or acts, how quickly something ages."

His figure blurred again and scored another glancing blow before Barragan could react. The speed at which the Primera moved in his Bankai form was simply astounding.

"Time itself would surely be something that I would never want to face," Ichigo continued before attacking again. This time he appeared on Barragan's side, but used sonido to move himself to his opponent's opposite side when he started to turn.

"But luckily for me," the Primera said around his smirk as he reappeared some distance from the Tercera. "You aren't time, only an imitation. A conduit for its awesome power."

"You'll learn your place boy. You spit out insults and degradations as if you have the experience to back it up! You're a mere child in my eyes."

Ichigo grinned and held up his hands in a mocking attempt at trying to placate his opponent. "You're right, you _are _older than me. You're likely thousands of years old while I've only had a mere sixteen years to experience life and all of its hardships."

Barragan chortled heartily alongside his fraccion. "Sixteen! Sixteen years of age he says! When I said you were a mere child, I expected you to be _at least _one hundred years old, but sixteen!"

He grinned a cruel grin as he brought his axe up in front of him. "You're nothing more than an _infant _to me!

Kuchiro, Arrogante,"

An overwhelming reiatsu overcame the nearby area, bringing no small amount of arrancar to their knees. Barragan's skin was immediately covered in a dark reiatsu and, when it slunk away, revealed not skin, but bone. Most of his figure was obscured by an extravagant robe with a golden chain hanging from the two sides in the middle. His mask fragment had changed into the likeness of a real crown, complete with jewels, and his body was that of a skeleton's, completely made out of bones.

"So this is it huh?" the Primera said airily. "This is the extent of your abilities in controlling time."

Barragan chuckled under his breath. "I do not control time. I _am _time, Primera."

Ichigo smirked a superior smirk. "We'll see, conduit, we'll see."

Before the Tercera could spit out a retort, his opponent disappeared, again faster than he could track.

He laughed. "Hah! You'll find your speed does nothing against me in this form boy!"

Indeed, as soon as Ichigo came within ten feet of Barragan, his movements slowed down to a level that the Tercera could react to.

He sonido'd away.

"You don't need to actively control your ability to slow my attacks now," Ichigo stated a safe distance from his opponent.

"You say that as if you still hold onto the false hope that I am not time itself!" Barragan spat as he held his hand out toward the orange haired Espada.

"Respira!"

* * *

Sun-Sun's eyes narrowed as she saw a dark mist-like substance burst out of the Tercera's sleeve and shoot toward Ichigo at an impressive speed. Her superior didn't seem concerned though, almost like he already knew what the mist did.

He either obviously knew or saw something she didn't or he was just extremely adept at keeping a calm front up in the heat of battle.

The green haired fraccion, now a good distance away from the rest of the arrancar spectators alongside her fellow fraccion, watched as Ichigo danced away from the pursuing mist, using the speed his Bankai was quickly making him renown for to the best of its abilities.

"Well," Mila-Rose said as she watched the battle gradually turn in favor of Barragan. "I don't know what he's going to do, but he won't lose."

Apache grunted from where she was leaning against the Primera's other zanpakutō. "He'll find a way around that time shit. That old fuck won't beat him."

They watched as the Tercera released another cloud of mist from his other arm, doubling his efforts to catch his opponent in it grasp. Ichigo continued to avoid it though, once coming close to one of the massive pillars that dotted the desert surface. The mist brushed against it as it chased after him.

Mila-Rose's mouth dropped open when she saw the structure of the pillar simply _dissolve._ "It's aging the structure so much that it's collapsing in on itself!"

Sun-Sun nodded, her brow furrowed while she hid her mouth behind her sleeve.

"He'll still win," Apache said resolutely. "He didn't even blink when the pillar collapsed. He knows what he's doing."

The idea of teasing the blue haired fraccion for her loyalty briefly passed through Mila-Rose's mind, but she decided to hold off until later. Now wasn't the time.

Suddenly Barragan howled in frustration and held out his right arm, dispelling half of the mist in the process. Out of his sleeve burst a massive double headed axe, completely black in color, with four chains attached to the centerpiece that trailed up into the sleeve of the Tercera's robe until they disappeared in the folds.

* * *

"Gran Caida!"

"Those robes are bigger than I thought, to be able to hide a weapon that large," Ichigo muttered amusedly, an eyebrow arched as he stared at Barragan.

The Tercera waved his other hand, allowing his mist to dissolve completely, and thrust the hand that held his axe forward. The chains suddenly shot toward Ichigo, so fast that even he couldn't avoid them, regardless of the fact that he was unprepared.

Each one of the four chains wrapped around a limb, holding him in place.

"Finally," Barragan growled. "Finally, I've caught you like the annoying insect that you are." He used sonido to appear in front of Ichigo, his massive axe raised over his head.

"Any last words, boy?"

The Primera grinned. "You're a fool. My curiosity is the only thing that's keeping you alive right now."

The Tercera roared. "I'll take your spot as Primera, even if it means prying it from your cold, dead fingers!"

He swung his axe down, fully intent on cleaving Ichigo in two with the thing.

Suddenly, reiatsu erupted from Ichigo with a force that made Barragan's ears ring and his vision blur out of focus. His axe stopped short of hitting the Primera, held back only by the furious assault of pure reiatsu that was rushing out of his body in waves.

Barragan sonido'd away, desperate to get as far away from the colossal force of the reiatsu as he could and recover. Even at a safe distance, the pressure on his shoulders was making any movement three times as hard as it should've been. The spectators themselves were being pushed to their hands and knees under the intensity, even some of the Espada couldn't stand it.

And then, it stopped.

Barragan looked back toward the Primera, finding that his chains had been shaken off simply due to the vibrations that the reiatsu had induced in them.

Ichigo himself appeared completely unharmed and even bored.

An eerie silence claimed the immediate area. Not a sound was heard outside the heavy breathing of the Tercera.

The Primera had just managed to shake off an extremely powerful attack through the simple act of releasing reiatsu. _Releasing reiatsu._ It was something even the weakest hollow could do, something that arrancar did unconsciously.

It was a hard idea for the spectators to wrap their minds around; that the Primera had defeated the Tercera's attack without even the slightest _hint _of any effort whatsoever.

"This form isn't like the released states that most shinigami and arrancar possess," the orange haired Espada said quietly, startling the majority of the arrancar in the area. "I don't continuously emit reiatsu, instead, I hold it all inside of me until I need to release it."

He paused.

"That was only a fraction of the energy I still have."

Barragan growled. "It doesn't matter! No matter how much reiatsu you possess and how intense the pressure is, you cannot get near me without being slowed to a crawl!"

"That is correct," Ichigo said. "But I don't need to get anywhere near you to end this fight."

He held up Tensa Zangetsu in front of him.

"My aspect was not chosen because of the powers I have when I release my 'hollow' zanpakutō. I am the Aspect of Gluttony because of the changes my shinigami powers experienced when I became an arrancar."

Black reiatsu tinted blood red started to appear on his blade, crackling and hissing excitedly.

"I am not arrogant enough to claim that I myself am Gluttony personified," he continued. "I am only the sword that it uses to strike down those who oppose it; namely you, Barragan."

He swung Tensa Zangetsu in an arch in front of him.

"Kuroi Getsuga!"

A crescent shape of black-red reiatsu erupted from the blade, quickly closing the distance between Ichigo and Barragan. As expected, it slowed down when it reached the time-distortion field that the Tercera constantly kept up around him.

Barragan scoffed. "Time is the ultimate harbinger of death! Everything and anything that faces it withers and dies eventually, including your attacks!"

He focused on the angry crescent and it slowly started dissolving. Seconds later, after the attack had only moved forward a foot or two, it was nothing more than flimsy black mist in front of the stout Espada.

The Tercera let out a barking laugh. "Your attack can only last as long as the reiatsu powering does," he said as he swiped a hand through the mist, dispelling it instantly.

"Now," he said as he turned back to Ichigo, who was still standing in the same spot he was in when he attacked. "Do you see now why you cannot win? Any attack you use against me is bound to fail!"

The Primera smirked. "There are things that time is unable to touch-"

"Hah! Foolish boy, your lack of experience proves just how much of a child you are!"

"Look at your hand, Barragan."

The Tercera glanced down at his free hand, but did a double take upon seeing it. He held it up in front of him, his gaze focused solely on the black mist that was currently eating away at it.

"What- What trickery is this!?"

"Gluttony," Ichigo said. "Gluttony is something that cannot be touched by time. It is timeless. You can always kill one who commits the sin, but the sin itself is untouchable."

Barragan focused his power over time on the hand that was already half eaten, but found he could only slow the mist's progress, it didn't expire!

"It will continue to devour you, Barragan, until you are gone completely or until I will it to stop. Your time may be able to slow its progress, but you will never be able to rid yourself of it."

The Tercera growled and held up his free hand, willing the mist to come forth and kill Ichigo before he himself died. As it left his sleeve to pursue the Primera though, it was devoured by the black substance currently eating away at his hand.

"Kuroi Getsuga!"

Barragan avoided the attack completely this time and used sonido to place himself behind Ichigo, fully intending to end him with his massive axe. Before he knew what was happening though, the Primera was at his side, unleashing another deadly black crescent of energy.

The Tercera quickly used sonido again, this time landing on the desert sands. His hand was completely devoured now and the foul mist was currently progressing up his forearm.

"I'm done playing with you, Barragan."

"You insolent brat!" the Aspect of Time spat. "You think this is over!"

Ichigo smirked. "Your fate has been sealed since the moment you tried to attack my fraccion."

Barragan's eyes widened briefly then narrowed in the way that Ichigo didn't like. The short Espada abruptly used sonido and appeared where Apache, Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun used to be standing with the rest of the arrancar.

As predicted, he wasn't happy when he found they'd moved.

The now one-armed skeleton turned rigidly at the sound of clapping.

Ichigo, now positioned directly in front of his fraccion, stopped the mocking applause. There was a look in his eye now, a glint that looked positively sinister and malevolent, murderous.

He narrowed his eyes. "Congratulations, Tercera, you've sunk to a whole new level of desperation."

Barragan glanced behind him, toward where his fraccion were looking on with awe at the fight, likely due to the fact that their superior was actually _losing_.

"Kill him," he hissed out viciously.

The three arrancar looked surprised, even hesitant, at the order.

"Go you fools! Kill that blasted boy!"

Choe Neng Poww, Cuuhlhourne Charlotte and Parduoc Nirgge glanced at each other, then at Ichigo.

"Yes, your majesty," Poww replied for the group.

"Fumitsubuse, Mamut," Nirgge stated. He took on the form of a large mammoth that walked on its hind legs. Green fur covered his body and he grew a large trunk from the center of his helm-like mask. Tusks similar to those a real mammoth grew from his mask fragment as well.

"Kirameke, Reina de Rosasu!" Cuuhlhourne exclaimed as he was covered in a burst of violet reiatsu. It quickly cleared to give way to his released form. He wore a crop top with wings at the shoulders and a pink mini skirt-like piece of clothing, heeled shoes and a tiara made of his mask fragments completed his transformation into his self-dubbed 'princess' form.

"Ibuke, Calderon," Poww said. He grew in size, nearly reaching the height and width of one of the massive pillars on the desert sands. His figure became more rounded, much like a whale. His arms grew to a massive size and his throat took on the likeness of a whale's, in both size and appearance.

They charged Ichigo as one while Barragan disappeared in a burst of static, the dark mist having eaten well into his shoulder now.

He reappeared behind Apache, Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun, only to find a trio of Kuroi Getsuga's flying directly at him. He grimaced and avoided the three attacks with an ease only made possible by his power over time.

By then, Ichigo had already taken down two of his fraccion, only Poww was left. Cuuhlhourne was on the ground, wildly thrashing about as reiatsu literally ate away at him from where he'd been hit on his left leg and arm.

Nirgge had already dissolved into the atmosphere completely.

"Apache, Mila-Rose, Sun-Sun," Ichigo said as he turned toward where Barragan had ended up after the stout Espada dodged his attacks. "Take care of the last one for me."

They nodded as one to his command and, after Apache had securely stuck the Primera's other zanpakutō in the ground, wasted no time in going about killing their target. His massive size tired him out quickly and being such small targets, it was less than easy for him to land a blow on any of them. He would be killed within minutes.

Ichigo turned away from his fraccion, confident that they would have little to no trouble in their task. His cannibalistic reiatsu was just now starting to work its way into Barragan's chest, he noted, far too slow for his liking. But, he figured, he couldn't do much about how fast his opponent was defeated, not unless he wanted to start consciously expelling his reiatsu... but that'd be showing far too much.

"Look, Barragan. You're going to die, there's no denying that...so how 'bout you save us the trouble of waiting and let my reiatsu consume you at its normal rate?"

"I'm not leaving this world until you're dead, Kurosaki."

Ichigo sighed. "It's pointless to continue. You're wasting our time, Barragan. You _are _a waste of time."

That snapped the fragile rope that was keeping the Tercera's temper in check.

The skeletal Espada lunged forward with a howl of rage and started to wildly swing his massive zanpakutō at the Primera.

Ichigo grinned and held up Tensa Zangetsu to block, watching as the axe drew closer and closer to his zanpakutō.

"Kuroi Getsuga," he drawled as soon as the blades collided. The reiatsu burst forth in a malevolent storm of black-red reiatsu, immediately clinging to the closest object.

Namely, Barragan's axe.

The reiatsu spread rapidly at first, but the Tercera slowed its progress by the time it had gotten to the centerpiece. Of course, the chains connected to the center of the axe started to get devoured as well, chains that led back into the extravagant robe Barragan was wearing.

Ichigo watched silently as his opponent struggled to maintain focus on six different parts of his body or weapon that were being devoured, one of which was well into his torso. The skeletal face could show no emotion, but it was clear that Barragan was panicking.

He knew how the duel would end.

"Well," the Primera muttered after having grown bored of watching his opponent struggle to slow the progress of his reiatsu. "I'd say it's been fun, Barragan, but I don't like lying. This ends now."

Ichigo disappeared before anything else could be said, appearing just a few feet outside the Tercera's time field. He immediately started circling the skeleton, moving so fast that his figure produced after images whenever it had been. Eventually, it looked like a small army of black-clothed arrancar were whirling around Barragan in a furious show of speed in the sky.

Then, the attacks started raining down with a fury unlike anything the arrancar spectators had seen before.

"Kuroi Getsuga!"

Black crescents of reiatsu rushed toward Barragan from no less than six different spots in the time it took to blink an eye. By the time they had traveled just a few feet to enter the time field, over two dozen more attacks had appeared.

The Tercera lost focus on the reiatsu already eating away at him, the sight of being completely surrounded by deadly black crescents causing him to panic for a brief moment.

That moment was all Ichigo needed.

He used shunpo to abruptly appear without a whisper of sound behind Barragan and made to thrust Tensa Zangetsu through his chest.

The Tercera, preoccupied by the storm of reiatsu bearing down upon him from every conceivable angle and the pain of having his flesh eaten away, didn't think to use sonido to get away. He didn't even notice that the Primera was behind him until he felt a blade plunge into back.

"Kuroi Getsuga."

Barragan howled in rage as he felt the cannibalistic reiatsu latch onto his form from the center of his chest. His time field collapsed as Ichigo moved away and, with one last infuriated curse at the Primera, he was engulfed in a storm of black reiatsu, tinted with a blood red hue.

The impact kicked up sand and disturbed the atmosphere enough to make the wind howl in irritation.

In the midst of it all, Ichigo stood calmly, observing the chaos he'd created.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, there's the secret to Ichigo's aspect and the duels. Hope you all enjoyed them and I hope they were up to standards, given how long I managed to take getting this out...

But anyway, I'd like to explain my line of thought with regards to sonido/shunpo vs. pure speed.

First off, sonido and shunpo are skills. Because of that, I believe that they can be wielded with varying levels of expertise (depending on the user). By that I mean Ichigo's sonido is bound to be more efficient in combat and come more naturally to him than say, Carias' might. That is why he was able to beat Barragan to his fraccion, he was more skilled in using sonido.

Now for why Ichigo was able to use it to get out of Barragan's time field. Personally I believe that all sonido and shunpo happen instantly, so there isn't really a duration of any kind that Barragan could've slowed down. No matter who is using it, they are transported instantly from one place to another.

Hope that came out as coherently as I wanted it too. My mind isn't the most reliable thing at one in the morning...

Anyway, as for the 0-9 or 1-10 Espada numbers. They'll be 0-9 in my story, but don't assume that automatically means Yammy is top dog. The guy is a tank, pure and simple, and I certainly wouldn't want to face him in a fight, but being a mindless berserker with an ass ton of power will only get you so far...

Some ending notes: I know how many of you want this to be a foursome, but I've said it's Apache/Ichigo so that's what it'll stay. I know some of my readers aren't fond of harems, and I know some are. I wrote this story planning for it to be only Ichigo/Apache and that's what all of you came into this story thinking. Sorry, but the pairing won't change.

On Ichigo becoming a softie and all around emotional wreck. Ichigo _will _experience turmoil/confusion over his actions (as we saw last chapter) but that will start to lessen as gets used to having emotions and a conscious again. I think the scene between him and Zangetsu in the last chapter pretty much explained what his thought process will be like: he'll do whatever it takes to get the job done, regardless of the consequences, but at the same time he'll have to be at peace with whatever decision he made. Confusing? Yeah. Just think of what was going through my head as I tried to put my thoughts into words at this time at night.

That said, I appreciate all the feedback I'm getting on this story and I hope you all continue to enjoy my writing. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.

Finally, I've got finals coming up in about two weeks, so the next chapter probably won't be up until after those have passed.

Till next time.


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own any of the characters or ideas used in this story, Bleach isn't mine.

**This chapter assumes basic knowledge about the anime and manga: Bleach.**

A Hollowed Existence

Apache grunted and winced again, bringing her up to a total of no less than six similar occurrences in the past minute. She immediately straightened her back and forced herself to sit still when she felt the finger on her cheek pause though. This was permanent and it could only be done once; regardless of how much it hurt, she'd just have to deal with it.

She distracted herself from the burning sensation that had started up on her cheek again by scanning the common room of the Primera's wing. Sun-Sun was sitting delicately on the large, soft couch, watching what was happening with an interested glint in her eye. Mila-Rose was watching too, but there was amusement shining in her eyes, not interest. No doubt she found the pain her fellow fraccion was being put through funny.

Apache bit her tongue to keep from insulting her, any sudden movements would mess the entire procedure up, and then it would be ruined.

The blue haired arrancar instead glanced to her side, where Ichigo was kneeling with a look of concentration on his face. His finger, blackened at the tip, was currently tracing a figure onto her skin.

Apache stifled a gasp as she winced again.

_Tracing _was definitely a horrible word to describe it; _burning_ a figure onto her skin seemed more accurate.

"You know," Sun-Sun said abruptly, though quietly, "I still can't believe you beat Barragan so easily." She paused to consider her words. "I mean – that's not to say I didn't think you _could_, but-"

"I know what you mean, Sun-Sun," Ichigo said, his eyes still focused on Apache's face. "That's what I was trying to accomplish, showing the arrancar a bit of my true power."

He paused and took his finger away, prompting the blue haired arrancar to sigh in relief.

"I guess I managed it pretty well huh?"

The edge of Sun-Sun's lips curled upward while Mila-Rose settled for snorting incredulously.

"You managed it more than just 'pretty well'," the dark skinned fraccion said. "There are rumors floating around now that you're as strong as Aizen himself."

Ichigo went quiet for a moment and then closed his eyes. "Strong as Aizen huh?"

He looked towards Mila-Rose. "Do you believe those rumors?"

His fraccion blinked, surprised. "I... I don't know what Aizen's strength is," she said slowly.

"Yes," Ichigo grinned, out of both pride and relief. "No one in this palace, save possibly Gin and Tōsen, know how strong Aizen truly is. Now, I taught you how to analyze what you see in a fight, correct?"

He continued without waiting for any reply. "So tell me what you saw in my fight with Barragan."

"An ass-kicking," Apache muttered before she could stop herself, wincing when the skin on her cheek flared up due to the movement of her jaw.

"Well," Sun-Sun started slowly, glancing at Mila-Rose, "I think it's obvious that you were toying with him for most, if not all of the fight."

Ichigo nodded as he turned his attention back to Apache, bringing his finger up to her skin again.

"And?" he prompted.

Sun-Sun's brow furrowed and Mila-Rose looked confused.

"Well, you were toying with him and you weren't taking him seriously at all," Sun-Sun said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Why didn't I take him seriously?"

"He wasn't controlling his anger, let it cloud his judgement," Mila-Rose said, sending a significant look at Apache as she spoke. A grin was on her face that only got larger when the blue haired fraccion glared at her, unable to do anything else for the time being.

"Barragan was an Espada, Mila-Rose. He was a hollow who made it to Vasto Lorde, a survivalist and an opponent that shouldn't be underestimated. He might not have looked like he was in control of himself, but he was, for the majority of the fight."

The dark skinned fraccion looked away at being told off, a red tint to her cheeks. She hadn't exactly thought before she spoke, she'd only seen a potential jab at Apache and went for it.

"If Barragan was in control of himself and you still didn't take him seriously, then you must've known what his capabilities were going into the fight," Sun-Sun stated as she looked toward her superior.

"I had no idea what he was capable of," Ichigo said as he paused in his work and turned around to face his green haired fraccion.

"And you still didn't take him seriously?"

The Primera sighed. "Maybe another angle will make what I'm trying to say clear – Why did Barragan and all the rest of the Espada refuse to go near the third pit when fraccion were being chosen?"

"Thought we weren't good enough," Apache snarled under her breath, her palm pressed against her cheek to relieve some of the soreness.

"That's part of it," Ichigo nodded. "But why do you think none of them ever visited it, not even for a single glance."

"Because the other hollow were typically stronger," Mila-Rose said evenly.

"Yes, and why would they refuse to even look at anything that wasn't the best of the best they were offered for their fraccion?"

"They wanted the strongest hollow to serve them," Apache said slowly, clearly confused.

"Of course they did," Ichigo said patiently, "but they didn't even look at the third pit once. Not even a short glance just to make sure there weren't any promising hollow put in there by mistake. They avoided it like the plague, even Neliel did and she's known for being more rational and open minded than most arrancar."

"Their egos," Sun-Sun said abruptly.

"Exactly," Ichigo stated, grinning. "Their ego, their _pride. _The third pit was seen as weak, and weakness in Hueco Mundo will get you killed, fast. The Espada refused to go near it for that very reason, because it contained weakness and, after all the work they'd done to get to the point they were at, they _despised _weakness."

"So... pride?" Apache said, one of her eyebrows arched up in doubt. "You're saying that you didn't take Barragan seriously because of his pride?"

"Pride," Ichigo said as he turned to resume working on Apache, "is something that every single arrancar has in them. Some have a very large amount of pride, and some have very little, but nonetheless they all have pride in how powerful they've become."

He fell silent as he lifted his free hand to drag Apache's away from her cheek. He then pressed his finger down on her skin for a moment, pulled it away, then pressed the tip of it down again a moment later.

"Barragan, as you all know, had a lot of pride in his strength. He was right to – he was a Vasto Lorde before he became an arrancar and he controlled the power of time. He had every right to be proud of his strength."

He paused and picked his finger up off of his fraccion's skin again. "Unfortunately for Barragan, the pride he had in his strength turned into arrogance; to the point where he believed himself a god, an infallible deity."

"He _did _have his fraccion call him 'his majesty," Mila-Rose said quietly. "I always thought that was a bit ridiculous, not to mention the fact that he never personally carried his own zanpakutō."

"So he was cocky," Sun-Sun said. "And those comments... You made that comment about your age on purpose didn't you?"

Ichigo nodded silently, most of his attention focused on Apache.

"But then... So you made him think he couldn't lose?"

"He already believed that, I only encouraged that line of thought."

"How does that have anything to do with you not taking him seriously?" Mila-Rose questioned.

"You tell me," Ichigo said, a tiny smirk on his face.

Mila-Rose groaned and Apache's face twitched in humor, but Sun-Sun remained thoughtful.

"You did that..." she started, but trailed off as a look of frustration came over her face. "Is it because you didn't want him to take _you_ seriously?"

"That's part of it," Ichigo said, nodding.

When it became apparent his fraccion were all stumped, he decided to take pity on them and give them a little help.

"My bankai," he said, drawing their attention to him, "is made to be fast and agile. Barragan's release is made to be powerful. Do you think he could've kept up with my speed and agility if he'd tried fighting me head on?"

All three of them looked doubtful, to say the very least. Apache and Mila-Rose had incredulous looks on their faces and Sun-Sun had her eyebrow arched.

"Of course not," Ichigo said, nodding. "Barragan would've never been able to keep up with me, but he had the time distortion field to make up for that. That field made my agility useless and Barragan knew that."

He turned back to Apache and lifted his finger to her cheek again. "So, I didn't take Barragan seriously because of his pride. He didn't take me seriously because of my age, why is that?"

"You have less experience fighting than he does," Sun-Sun stated.

"True," the Primera responded, "but why does that matter."

"He saw you as inexperienced and not worth his time," Mila-Rose said, a bitter look on her face as she recalled a similar blunder she had made in the past. "He didn't see you as a challenge because his pride in his abilities wouldn't allow it. The fact that you are so young just solidified that thought for him."

Ichigo nodded and sent a significant glance toward his dark skinned fraccion. "Learning from past mistakes is one of the best ways to grow stronger."

She nodded mutely in return.

"All of Barragan's mistakes revolve around his pride," Sun-Sun muttered, her brow furrowed.

"He lost because of his pride," the Primera said, nodding, "but can any of you tell me _why_?"

The three fraccion were silence for several moments, only the minute hissing sound Ichigo's finger made as it traversed across Apache's cheek could be heard.

Suddenly, Apache's hand shot up to grab her superior's wrist, halting his work on her skin.

"When you used your Kuroi Getsuga on Barragan, he didn't get out of the way."

Ichigo slowly cracked a smirk and nodded, urging her to continue.

"He didn't know anything about what the attack did... he just," she trailed off exasperatedly, trying to find the right words. "He just _assumed _that his time field would take care of it."

"Why?" The Primera said, his eyes staring intensely into Apache's. She was so close...

"His pride... The pride he had in his abilities," she trailed off again, her eyes darting all around the room as she attempted to connect the dots.

Her eyes widened. "Time! He thought everything answered to time! He thought every single attack you sent against him would expire and since his time field negated your agility, you were bound to lose! He thought there was absolutely no way you could win!"

Ichigo's smirk stretched out into a full grin.

"But even then," Sun-Sun said, "why would he physically touch what was left of your attack? Why not just avoid it completely?"

"Apache just told you why. Barragan, his arrogance aiding him, believed that every single attack I made against him would expire and become useless. If you were to think like that, then what better way to make a psychological blow on your opponent than to _physically _dispel one of their strongest attacks?"

Mila-Rose snorted. "Why the hell didn't he just cut his arm off?"

Ichigo made to answer, but stopped short when Sun-Sun's head jerked up in understanding. "His pride. Cutting his arm off would be admitting that your strength, that Kuroi Getsuga, had beaten time itself. Since his pride was so important to him and so strong, he couldn't do it."

"Even so," Apache said quietly, "it's a bit ridiculous that he would rather accept death than admit his defeat and live to fight another day."

"To the four of us it is," Ichigo responded as he turned back to his work. "But we've always been different than the other arrancar. To us, survival takes precedence over everything, but to other arrancar that isn't the case."

He paused to focus for a moment on finishing the figure he was burning into Apache's skin.

"Think about it. Grimmjoww would rather die than admit he wasn't 'king'. Barragan died instead of admitting his power wasn't absolute. Starrk would rather die than be alone again. Neliel would sooner die than harm one she sees as innocent and helpless. All arrancar are like that. They have a feeling, an opinion or a thought, that they value more than life itself."

"Do you?" Mila-Rose asked quietly.

"Do I have something I would die for?" Ichigo muttered absentmindedly. He paused his work on Apache and leaned back, silent in thought.

"I have two things I..." he trailed off as his brow furrowed. The Primera's eyes darted to each of his three fraccion before he continued. "_Five _people that I would gladly die for."

An awkward, somewhat shocked silence settled over the room. It was broken moments later though, when Ichigo spoke again.

"I'm finished," he said quietly as he pulled his finger away from Apache's cheek.

She immediately moved from her spot and hurried back to her room, unable to fully contain the sudden influx of eagerness she experienced when the Primera announced he was done.

The blue haired arrancar came to stop in front of a mirror resting on the wall of her bathroom. Her face stared back at her, complete with different colored eyes and horn-like mask fragment.

The only difference was the proud '1:1' that now resided on her left cheek in old Gothic numbers, just like the tattoos the Espada bore.

It had been her idea, though when she first suggested it to Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun the day following the duels she hadn't been serious. They took a liking to the idea though and, as they grew more approving of the idea, Apache did as well.

Eventually they asked Ichigo for his permission and his help in drawing the tattoos; he'd quietly agreed.

Mila-Rose entered the bathroom at that point and stood silently in the doorway, inspecting the blue haired fraccion's tattoo through the mirror.

"It looks good," she said after a moment of contemplation. "Intimidating, even."

Apache nodded, reaching up with her hand to lightly drag her fingertips over her newly blackened skin.

"Not only that but it..." she bit her lip. "It..._marks _us, I guess." She huffed in frustration, clearly not happy with her wording.

"It gives you... a sense of belonging," Mila-Rose said quietly.

Apache nodded again, her brow furrowed.

"Do you think it's wrong to feel that way," she said abruptly as she turned around. "We're arrancar, we aren't supposed to feel emotion at all."

"We can feel emotion."

"You know what I mean," Apache said. "We're not supposed to feel any more emotion than we could in our first hollow forms and usually that doesn't go much farther than rage or fear."

Mila-Rose shrugged. "I don't know if it's alright to want to belong as an arrancar, go ask Ichigo or something, he knows that stuff."

The blue haired fraccion sighed and turned back to study her new tattoo in the mirror. "He really is amazing isn't he?"

A grunt. "If it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way you do... about wanting to belong that is."

Apache nodded silently and meant the dark skinned fraccion's eyes through the mirror. It did give her some peace of mind, knowing that she wasn't alone in her desire to belong.

Suddenly, a devious smile stretched across Mila-Rose's face.

"But you had me so worried!" She made an over exaggerated swooning motion. "I thought your crush on Ichigo had died off!"

Apache scowled, earlier feelings of camaraderie utterly and completely destroyed. She spun to face her fellow fraccion. "You would bring that up at a time like this!"

"You didn't deny it this time! That's such an improvement," the harlot-from-hell drawled.

Growling, Apache stalked towards her.

"How cute! You're blushing like a school girl because I brought up your crush!"

"Get the hell out!"

"_So defensive!_ It's alright to feel that way Apache," Mila-Rose chided, even as she was forced into the hallway. "And don't think I didn't see how you blushed when he grabbed your hand!"

"I'll fucking kill you!"

"Oh! Funny too! With jokes like that you'll have to beat off admirers with a stick!"

"That shinigami didn't have too much trouble beating _your_ ass! And he was a rich snob!"

Mila-Rose scowled, more angry than amused now. "What's that supposed to mean midget!"

"That you're the fucking grand-daughter of Soul Society's captain-commander! What the hell do you think it means!?"

"Why don't you quit running your mouth and prove it then!"

"Maybe I w-"

"Oi!"

Apache and Mila-Rose blinked, surprised at hearing the voice of their superior intrude on their fight. It was only then that they noticed they were in the hallway, very much in clear view of both an amused Sun-Sun and an incredulous Ichigo.

"If you two are gonna kill each other," the Primera continued, "at least do it outside so I don't have to clean up the mess."

The two fraccion, sufficiently cowed, silently made their way back to the common room.

"So," Ichigo said after a minute or two of searing '1:2' into his green haired fraccion's skin. "Sun-Sun has figured out why my fight with Barragan doesn't give anyone an accurate read on how strong I really am and, therefore, why all rumors that I am as strong as Aizen have no real proof behind them. Have you two?"

Apache and Mila-Rose glanced at each other. Truthfully, they were having trouble simply remembering what their previous conversation was about.

Ichigo arched his eyebrows, an amused smile on his face. "Nothing? Just what were you two talking about in there?"

Mila-Rose grinned but Apache landed an elbow in her stomach before she could say anything.

"Alright, I won't ask," Ichigo said, his smile now a full grin. "But the two of you still have to answer my question."

Apache groaned.

Mila-Rose wheezed.

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo, Primera Espada of Sōsuke Aizen's army, sat cross-legged on the blistering hot sands of Hueco Mundo's vast desert. Around him were the remains of many old and decrepit pillars, a few dead trees that had broken through to the surface from the forest below and even an uncharacteristic rock or two.

No living soul was within miles of him though.

No living soul _could _be within miles of him, not while he did this; not if that living soul wanted to continue living.

He drew in a breath, slow and even.

The last time he'd attempted this he'd finally been able to successfully enter his mindscape. When he came back to his body, however, he found the area around him completely and utterly devastated.

Sand was blackened and smoldering and the putrid sulfuric smell of burnt matter tainted the air because of it. Entire pillars had been obliterated by an unknown force with a strength seemingly as powerful as nature itself. Holes littered the ground, some deep enough to actually break through to the forest nearly one-hundred feet below.

It was a scene of utter devastation and mayhem, and Ichigo could only assume that he had done it.

He'd only been a few short miles from Las Noches too.

The Primera exhaled through his nose, just as slowly as he had inhaled.

Zangetsu rested on his right, the blade's tip buried in the sand. The zanpakutō stood proud and tall, its deadly force apparent even through the pristine white of the bandages covering it.

His other zanpakutō lay on the ground in front of him. The blade was completely uncovered, allowing its cruel obsidian-like edge to gleam in the sunlight.

Another slow intake of breath.

He hadn't made contact with the entity that represented his other zanpakutō yet. He didn't know if that was simply because he was attempting contact in all the wrong ways, having only done it before with a shinigami zanpakutō, or if the spirit was actually unwilling to speak with him.

Exhale through the nose.

Either way though, he'd try until he succeeded.

He would _not_ fail.

_Inhale._

That night had marked the last of his failures; he'd sworn as much the moment he was coherent enough to do so as an arrancar.

_Exhale._

Images started to flit before his closed eyes.

_Inhale._

Karin, playing soccer with her friends.

_Exhale._

Yuzu, cooking the family dinner.

_Inhale._

Karin, her face bloodied and streaked with tears, reaching out to him as the hollow swung him around like a rag doll.

_Exhale._

Yuzu, her arms wrapped around her shaking body as she sank to her knees in fear; desperation clouding her eyes.

_Inhale._

He couldn't stop them from coming now.

_Exhale._

He could only concentrate on the images... all his other senses were dulling.

_Inhale._

Karin.

_Exhale._

Yuzu.

Ichigo drew in a sharp breath.

His surroundings changed.

"_**So, King, a little birdie told me you want my power."**_

* * *

**A/N:** So I've learned being on break is bad for the whole doing-things-I-want-to-get-done mindset. I'll be back to college this coming Monday though, so it should be easier to concentrate on something more than sleeping and eating.

First off, thanks to all those that wished me well on exams. I think I did pretty well and I'm happy with the results, but anyway, let's get on to answering questions shall we?

Apache, Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun can still create Allon by cutting of their left(?) arms, yes. I hadn't actually planned on them using that ability for some time yet, but know that they can still do it.

I went and looked up the whole Getsuga Tenshō vs. Kuroi Getsuga naming thing and the reviewer that brought it up is right, both the shikai and bankai forms of the attack are called Getsuga Tenshō. I decided to keep Ichigo's bankai version Kuroi Getsuga in this fic though, if only to help differentiate between the two attacks and avoid any possible confusion in the future.

Don't worry, Ichigo will be working with his hollow zanpakutō as well, as seen towards the end of this chapter. Honestly I think his hollow will be an extremely fun character to write.

I used to hate Yammy quite a bit, but now he just amuses me. His character _is _very easy to hate though, especially with the whole Espada Zero thing. I suppose Aizen needs a good, stupid lackey with a lot of strength though.

As for the specific abilities of his bankai, I won't go into much detail right now, though a lot will be revealed in the next chapter.

Ichigo's personality and emotion won't be a carbon copy of the Ichigo from the anime/manga. He's gone through quite a bit more in my fic than he did in the manga, so his personality and emotions are hardened, even more so by the fact that he is an arrancar.

The reason why I gave him a shinigami release is a bit more complicated. See, since Ichigo 'ate' Rukia, it makes sense that he would come to carry the hōgyoku around instead of her. Since he had it inside of him, Aizen would then come after him, which then gave me a sensible reason to have Ichigo become an arrancar. The reason he has a bankai stems from that, him becoming an arrancar, I mean. I don't believe arrancar can show enough emotion to truly care for something/someone enough to be involved in a relationship, so I needed a way for Ichigo to become capable of that. Well, since he had the hōgyoku inside of him, the very essence of shinigami power and hollow power as one, I had a realistic reason to give him shinigami powers and therefore emotions. In the end it all stems from the romance, quite a bit of trouble to go through just to add in a little feeling between the characters eh?

I used his regular bankai because I wanted to keep this story as familiar as I can to the readers in my alternate story line. I believe a fanfic that is different from the manga/anime can be an interesting read, but if its _too _different I think it won't be able to keep readers' interest past the first few chapters. Basically, I want to keep this story different, but similar to the manga at the same time.

Those last two paragraphs were almost as hard to write as the character itself, hope I did a good enough job at trying to get my thoughts across. If you've any questions though, feel free to message me. I'll answer as soon as I get a chance.

Well, excuse me while I breath a sigh of relief. That was definitely the longest A/N I've ever wrote. This chapter was a filler of sorts, but don't worry, it'll get back on track in the next chapter.

Till then.


	9. Author's Note

It's been a little less than two years since I posted the last chapter to this story and quite a bit in my life has changed since then, including the time and interest I have for/in writing. Two years ago I had all the free time I could want and my muse was going strong, now I've got very little time to myself and my muse has long since left me. Real life caught up to me and I haven't been able to get away from it.

It is for these reasons that I agreed to allow IchiFell to take over writing this story when he PM'd me, asking for my permission to do so. It is my hope that he can finish what I could not and give you the ending you've been looking for.

Or for those that don't even remember putting this story on their alert list (it has been quite a while), give you a fresh start with a story you enjoyed reading a while back.

That said, I am sorry I could not finish this story and I am sorry for leading any one of you to believe otherwise.

I am not sorry, however, for handing this over to IchiFell. I think it is the best solution for this would-be unfinished story.

Now, on a lighter note, I'd like to thank all of you for reading, reviewing and supporting this story while it was active. It was a good run and I sure as hell had fun writing it.

BloodFreedom13


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